Fatality in Bristol tonight

redvee

Happened on the A4 Portway in the area of the old B&W sports ground after Sea Mills Station as you head into town. Few details available at present other than the deceased was 17/18 and carrying no ID, somebody somewhere will be missing him

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/7814672.stm

lost_in_thought

That's just dreadful. I hate the idea of nobody being sure who they are.

Also I do find it a bit galling that they tag what is essentially a traffic announcement onto the end of a report of someone's death.

mattybain

Well at least they all get some press, most single car deaths are not widely reported, gives everyone a false sense of security about how safe the roads are.

I remember living in Australia that they used to end the nightly news with an update of all the deaths on the roads, quite frightening and a real eye opener, especially as the have a similar number of deaths in Victoria alone, which although is the size of the UK has a bout 1/10th of the population.

woodford2barbican

TheBrogueadier

That's the second cyclist fatality in a little over three weeks in Bristol, not to mention the woman seriously injured on Monday after getting hit by a Land Rover.


http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/Cyc ... ticle.html

georgee

hmmm...

The Portway is a dual carriadgeway where cars on that stretch do around 70. there is a very wide bike path, segregated by a curb on the river side. If they were on the path, very tragic and rather a freak accident, if they were on the road i'd be pretty worried for a distinct lack of common sense...

TheBrogueadier

The Portway at that point has a 50mph speed limit and is only single laned for public traffic with a second lane for buses and permited vehicles.

The bus lane would have been a much safer option as the curb on the river side tends to prevent grit/salt from spreading properly onto the pavement, at 6pm there was ice in and around the city centre, let alone out of town with the general cooling effect of the river. Gritted new bus lane vs potentially icy path..

redvee

Not sure wether the cyclist was heading into or out of town but the incidnet occured right by the gates to the sports ground looking at the coverage on ITV, if I was doing the Portway intotown then I'd use the bus lane nowadays as the buses using it are the Park & Ride service which is every 10 mins and the bus lane is 2 miles long so you're only likely to have one bus pass you.
The family have now ben informed of their loss.

chrishhutt

We now have identification.

http://tinyurl.com/8a933f

The victim is the 29 year old son of a prominent local councillor. I've also covered it on greenbristolblog.blogspot.com

gtvlusso

Poor guy - Poor family.

The portway is a nightmare on a bike - I generally do it in summer on my way home from Aztec (don't ask!) and head to the rowing club. I am afraid that this kind of accident was gonna happen on there sooner or later.

You can go at a hell of a pace on a bike along there, but cars still do 70 mph + even in the 40/50 zones. I think it is a 30 zone uner the M5 bridge.

Even on a motorbike, The Portway is a 'mare - particulary the bus lane and filters.

redvee

gtvlusso wrote:

I think it is a 30 zone uner the M5 bridge.

The 30 zone stretches from Shirehampton railway station to the M5 roundabout.