Serious accident on A55 in Anglesey

RallyBiker

Bobbinogs wrote:

Yes, I agree Jeepie. Whilst the facts are still unknown to us all so the actual cause of the accident should not be guessed at. However, one thing is clear, the "route" was not the reason why this happened.

A tragic waste of a young life and, whatever the root cause, nothing is going to change that. A sobering thought for us all to reflect on.

Of course the route was at fault!! Must be crazy to be riding bunched up on the slow lane of the busiest route from the UK to Ireland. When that ferry docks in Holyhead the foriegn wagons coming down the 55 are bumper to bumper, driven by half asleep Poles, Lithuanians etc. What is tragic is that where I saw them, they had already cycled 300 meters passed the slip road of the safe A5 route and also the Route 8 route.
People need to take responsibility for their own actions. I would not dream of taking my bike on a busy dual carrigeway. The fact of the matter is this incident will go on to affect hundreds of souls, from the relatives of the cyclists, the occupants of the following vehicles who also came into contact with the cyclist, and their own families. Also the rescue crews, the incident response crews,who had to deal with the awful aftermath of this to reopen the road.
I' myself have organised long distance charity bike rides, and the the route planning, feed stops, accomodation and timing took about 2 months to sort out properly. These lads should have done their homework, then they would'nt have been on this road, and this tragic event would not have happened!

RallyBiker

Simon E wrote:

RallyBiker wrote:

They did no favours to the situation riding bunched up in a pack in the slow lane either.

Not sure why that's a bad thing - would make them very visible. Would you prefer them to be strung out in single file along the inside lane, and therefore less obvious to following traffic?

RallyBiker wrote:

an elderly lady ploughed into them and did not stop at the accident.

The road.cc article states the driver, a man, was taken to hospital. So did he/she stop or not? Or is your workmate an unreliable source of information? :roll:

Drivers should be retested at intervals and eyesight test should be conducted regularly and the result recorded at DVLA.

They obviously were not visible enough though were they, just a damn big target. If they had been in a single file between the verge strip and the solid white line and off the carriage way they would have been away from the traffic flow. You obviously think "the cyclist" can do no wrong in the world, and should come away from things like this blameless! Everyone should take responsibility for their actions in this world chap!! :?
With regards to the driver, which driver do you mean?? :roll:

doyler78

What part of what the cyclists are alleged to have done was contrary to the highway code and contrary to the current bikeability standards?

There is one overriding fact for all people that wish to denounce the use of this road is that the law permits roads to be designated such that cycling is prohibited and in the absence of that no one should ever criticise any persons decision to use a lawful highway for cycling.

My sympathies of course go out to his friends and family and those of the cyclist killed there and to the cyclist killed today on the way into Belfast.

Jez mon

RallyBiker wrote:

They obviously were not visible enough though were they, just a damn big target

Erm,,,,

Which were they, invisible or a big target? :?

Of course it's a big scary road. But if they were riding in a big bunch then they should have been rather visible to drivers, a long single file line of riders OTOH would have taken much longer to pass and would have been much less visible

Of course the road was a factor in the accident, but to make it sound like the riders had it coming to them is idiotic beyond belief.

RallyBiker

Jez mon wrote:

RallyBiker wrote:

They obviously were not visible enough though were they, just a damn big target

Erm,,,,

Which were they, invisible or a big target? :?

Of course it's a big scary road. But if they were riding in a big bunch then they should have been rather visible to drivers, a long single file line of riders OTOH would have taken much longer to pass and would have been much less visible

Of course the road was a factor in the accident, but to make it sound like the riders had it coming to them is idiotic beyond belief.

I don't think the drivers wanted to hit them, do you, so they obviously were not seen (visible to you Jezmon!)until the last second. They took the wrong most dangerous road of 3 options, and if you can't work that out after reading all the posts, I reckon you are the idiot!

roadracedave

So the fact that the other hundreds, if not thousands of drivers that had passed the group without hitting them doesn't show that they were clearly visible enough. If they had been hit within minutes of joining the A55, then yes their visibility may have been to blame.

It wouldn't have mattered whether they were riding along the A55, the A5 or some country lane, when there is a driver that is either not paying attention, or who hasn't got very good vision, then accidents are going to happen.

I regularly ride on 70mph dual carriageways around Bristol, and generally I feel safer on those, where the cars have got hundreds of metres to see you and move around you than I do riding around the country lanes, where the cars are still doing 50mph+ but have only got a fraction of that distance to avoid you when they shoot round a corner and see you.

As much as I am aware that cyclists are not always right, I really think it was just a case of a bad driver in this incident.

Deepest condolences to all of the families and friends involved

Velonutter

Very Very sad, I try to think how I would feel if it was any of my kids.

My condolences to his family, such a tender age to die

Mike Healey

RallyBiker wrote:

[They obviously were not visible enough though were they, just a damn big target. :

So, damn big targets are difficult to see?

mz__jo

Does the Highway Code advise cyclists to ride in single file on busy roads? I know that the french Code de la Route does, to the extent that someone organising a group ride and not respecting the rule could be considered partly or wholly reponsible in an accident (which can get very expensive in civil claims; this is a regular nightmare for club presidents and event organisers).
Apart from the legal aspect, it would be wise of all the fans of the "we have the right" ideology to remember that the first rule of staying alive is to accept everyone else on the road as a blind, arrogant, homicidal idiot. Visibility is an important safety factor but being where the other has to make a determined effort to hit you is even more important. Being aware of the behaviour of every passing driver and having a potential escape route in case of need will keep you alive when trying to make the others respect your rights can get you kjlled.
It is a sad fact but after a number of years we all seem to end up with memories of friends gone before their time, often from stupid accidents that aren't always their fault. My condolences to the family in this, as in every other, case.

Pross

There was absolutely no reason why they wouldn't have been visible at the time, the road was completely straight and the only reason they wouldn't have been seen was if the driver wasn't looking / paying attention properly. It's not a great road to cycle on but people time trial on worse. Also, RallyBiker says in his first post that the driver didn't stop at the scene - when I went past there was a silver Vauxhall stopped at the front of the queue of traffic, coincidence?