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Police appeal to find cyclist after pedestrian dies following collision in east London

Fatal crash happened on Bow Road on Friday 3 July; police say rider did not stop at scene

Police in east London are urging a cyclist to come forward after a pedestrian died following a collision with the rider last Friday. Officers have also appealed for any witnesses, including people with video footage, to contact them.

Peter McCombie, aged 72, died in hospital on Saturday 11 July from head injuries sustained in the crash a week earlier.

The Metropolitan Police say they were called to the scene at 17.05 hours on Friday 3 July.

The incident happened on Bow Road, London E3, close to Thames Magistrates’ Court, which lies on the route of Cycleway 2, with a floating bus stop outside the court building.

Officers said that the cyclist did not stop at the scene, and that no arrests have been made and enquiries are continuing.

Detective Inspector Julie Trodden, who is leading the investigation, said: “I am appealing to anyone who was in the area at around 5pm on Friday, 3 July and who witnessed this collision, or the events immediately prior to and after the collision to contact the police.

“I am particularly keen to speak to any road users who have dash or helmet cam footage of these events; this could prove to be crucial to establishing exactly what happened.

“Finally, I would appeal directly to the cyclist involved – please come forward to assist this investigation but, more importantly, to provide answers to the victim’s family who are grieving the tragic loss of a loved one.”

She added: “Although Peter was in his 70s, he was still active and continued to work beyond the retirement age, and would have continued to do so, had it not been for this heart-breaking incident.”

Detectives from the Serious Collision Investigation Unit have asked any witnesses, or people with dash cam footage, to call 0208 597 4874, or 101 referencing CAD 5779/3 July.

Incidents in which pedestrians are seriously injured or killed following a collision involving a cyclist are thankfully rare, but by the same token that means they do tend to receive more attention in the mainstream press than crashes in which motorists are involved.

In 2018, the latest year for which figures are available, there were 5,762 pedestrian casualties of all severities – killed, seriously injured, or slightly injured – across Greater London.

In the vast majority of cases, a motor vehicle was involved – cars in 61 per cent of those incidents, motorcycles in 11 per cent, goods vehicles in 9 per cent, taxi or private hire vehicles in 7 per cent, buses or coaches in 5 per cent and cyclists in 4 per cent.

The larger the vehicle, the more likely the incident is likely to result in death or serious injury. Of the 57 people killed during 2018 while walking, for example, almost one in five – 11 – died in an incident involving a lorry.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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11 comments

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Projectcyclingf... | 3 years ago
1 like

It's a common feature of pedestrians NOT actually looking before commiting to crossing roads as I expect is what happened here - as was the case of Kim Briggs, who failed to use a safe crossing point but rather attemped to cross a busy road where and when NOT safe.
And it was reported that she was dodging moving motor traffic but ended up directly into the path of cyclist (Charlie Alliston) going on green and despite him alerting her in trying to avoid the collision - in most cases, peds would jump out of the way but not this one.
I'm still not convinced he would have been able to avoid any collision even with a front brake, and the supposed cop 'bicycle braking test' was clearly flawed and should have been disputed in court for a fairer trial.
And it didn't take long for the anti-cylist lynch mob to get up arms against cyclists.

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Richard D | 3 years ago
3 likes

Given the quality of justice experienced by cyclists, Whether the collision was with a driver or a pedestrian, I could well understand their reluctance to come forward.  It's also why I always ride with a camera.

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Projectcyclingf... replied to Richard D | 3 years ago
1 like

I agree.
The anti-cylist lynch mob will be up in arms demanding registration plates for cyclists and other nonsense ideas they have in their heads that they want to inflict on cyclists despite being as vulnerable as peds and environmentally friendly.

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Secret_squirrel | 3 years ago
2 likes

Shame that the actual number of cyclists ksi'ing pedestrians isnt broken out in the source material.  Would like to know the absolute number.

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brooksby replied to Secret_squirrel | 3 years ago
2 likes

Quote:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/08/killer-cyclists-ro....

I found this one (written by a road.cc alumnus, no less):

"Of around 400 pedestrians killed in collisions in the UK each year, about 2.5 involve a bicycle..."

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the little onion replied to brooksby | 3 years ago
2 likes

It's worth noting that these statistics (incidentally, like most KSI reporting) don't attribute causality or blame. So you can't say whether the cyclist 'killed' the pedestrian, or indeed for inverse cases, whether the pedestrial killed the cyclist. 

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Hirsute replied to Secret_squirrel | 3 years ago
4 likes

When the allison thing kicked off, there was a briefing paper by some lawyer that said that of the 20 pedestrian deaths involving cyclists, it was 4 cyclist fault 6 ped and 10 equal. (the figures may be slightly different but there were more the fault of the pedestrian). I did actually find it, but foolishly did not make a note of the url.

 

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the little onion replied to Hirsute | 3 years ago
4 likes

hirsute wrote:

When the allison thing kicked off, there was a briefing paper by some lawyer that said that of the 20 pedestrian deaths involving cyclists, it was 4 cyclist fault 6 ped and 10 equal. (the figures may be slightly different but there were more the fault of the pedestrian). I did actually find it, but foolishly did not make a note of the url.

 

 

I've seen similar stats for KSIs. To be honest, I don't give them much credence as 'proof' of anything, because we are dealing with such a small sample size. The only thing it shows, really, is that cyclist and pedestrians are very rarely a danger to each other, and that motor traffic is a much bigger danger

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Eton Rifle replied to Hirsute | 3 years ago
2 likes

Yeah, I remember it. Written by an "independent" lawyer who worked for the car industry. Buried the stats in a footnote and then attempted to construct an argument directly contradicting those same stats.

It was on the gov website but that place is so full of Tory lies and bullshit these days that it's a bugger to find anything.

Edit: found it. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cycle-safety-review

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Hirsute replied to Eton Rifle | 3 years ago
0 likes

Thanks, looks like I remembered about right.

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brooksby replied to Eton Rifle | 3 years ago
2 likes

Eton Rifle wrote:

Yeah, I remember it. Written by an "independent" lawyer who worked for the car industry. Buried the stats in a footnote and then attempted to construct an argument directly contradicting those same stats. It was on the gov website but that place is so full of Tory lies and bullshit these days that it's a bugger to find anything. Edit: found it. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cycle-safety-review

Thanks for that!  Footnote to page 26 states that 20 pedestrians were killed in an incident between 2011-2016 which also included a cyclist.

15 of those incidents have a contributory factor assigned, and the cyclist was considered the sole contributory factor in 4 incidents.

Four incidents in a five year period.

 

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