Mike Hall's inquest - Guardian report

[Borderer]

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/ ... hen-killed

[psling]

Counsel assisting the coroner, Ken Archer, said the race had been described as a gruelling test and likened to the “Hunger Games on wheels”

My understanding of the Hunger Games is that the winner is the sole survivor after everyone else has been killed - a bit worrying that Counsel liken a sporting event to that and if it was a flippant remark (at an inquest) then it is totally inappropriate.

[thenorthwind]

An odd comparison and not constructive at an inquest.

Not very helpful for the press to focus on that comment, but inevitable that they will do that.

Doesn't do anything to lessen the sadness, but then what would.

[Richard G]

"with the rear red light on Hall’s bicycle difficult to see"

So he did have at least one working light then. Anyone know what he was running?

[redefined_cycles]

Not so sure about them comments regarding his lights being dim and not having any reflective elements in his clothing. Mike wasn't stupid and especislly after having warned other cyclists regards close scrapes with cars going past. Sound like BS which hopefully they will get to the bottom of

[Bearbonesnorm]

Yes, cerainly not a helpful comment but it's a 'headline' and grabs peoples attention hence it's reported in the paper ... I can't help feeling that the comments that we can perhaps all take something from are;

An inquest on Monday heard Hall was wearing dark clothing, with limited reflective qualities.

and

Police re-creations showed the bike was “virtually indistinguishable” in the dark, with the rear red light on Hall’s bicycle difficult to see.

[ScotRoutes]

Not so sure about them comments regarding his lights being dim and not having any reflective elements in his clothing. Mike wasn't stupid and especislly after having warned other cyclists regards close scrapes with cars going past. Sound like BS which hopefully they will get to the bottom of

The reflectivity of his clothing would surely be easily established. Of course we don't know by what standard it is being judged. If someone was comparing it to a full reflective jacket, or even a Sam Brown belt, then they might judge Mikes choice insufficient.

[Scud]

Terrible piece of journalism which doesn't surprise me these days.

Seems to ignore the fact that it is a long, straight, flat road and that the 19 year old driver has previously stated that they were distracted by a truck before hitting him.

[psling]

Terrible piece of journalism which doesn't surprise me these days.

Seems to ignore the fact that it is a long, straight, flat road and that the 19 year old driver has previously stated that they were distracted by a truck before hitting him.

Well, to be fair it does report that the driver was distracted by a truck before hitting him. It also reports that Mike was riding "in the verge on the correct side of the road".

[johnnystorm]

Terrible piece of journalism which doesn't surprise me these days.

Seems to ignore the fact that it is a long, straight, flat road and that the 19 year old driver has previously stated that they were distracted by a truck before hitting him.

I'm not sure there is much there that isn't paraphrasing the Police testimony. The terrible bit is how readily the Police are willing to blame the victim.

Not many people riding there and seeing a lorry parked at a filling station seems adequate defence for killing someone.

Australia does seem particularly anti-bike.

[ScotRoutes]

Not many people riding there and seeing a lorry parked at a filling station seems adequate defence for killing someone.

Have you looked into saccadic masking? The fact that the driver may have turned his head to look at the truck, focussed on it, then turned back could well be a factor in the accident.

[Bearbonesnorm]

With the limited information available, it appears to be an accident. A very unfortunate one but a genuine accident ... no one to blame, yet perhaps everyone involved could have done a little more to have helped prevent it.

[Cheeky Monkey]

https://www.facebook.com/Bikepacking/vi ... 0480/?t=20

Saw this shared on FB re: MH's light set-up.

Looks pretty good really.

Poor sod

[Richard G]

If that's barely visible, we're all fecked.

The only things I usually have over that are a bit more in the way of reflectives.

[Scud]

Much better read and asks a lot of questions of the way it is being handled..

https://cycle.org.au/index.php/articles ... ll-inquest

Let's just hope he truly can rest in peace, we won't see many of his kind in life.

[GregMay]

With the limited information available, it appears to be an accident. A very unfortunate one but a genuine accident ... no one to blame, yet perhaps everyone involved could have done a little more to have helped prevent it.

Agree Stu.

I had to walk out of the office after seeing this on the splash page today. Still makes me tear up a little that he's dead.

[JohnClimber]

With the limited information available, it appears to be an accident. A very unfortunate one but a genuine accident ... no one to blame, yet perhaps everyone involved could have done a little more to have helped prevent it.

We've all tuned out while driving for a second or two
We've all driven somewhere, and can't remember part of the journey
Mike did always wear black
We've all had crud over our rear light and not known about it until we stop and got off
We've all had stuff drop down and cover out rear light or have it move sideways and not notice
We all miss Mike, we were all shocked and upset but you have to feel sorry for the car driver if he was doing nothing wrong.

Such a terrible accident and a loss to us all

[Lazarus]

That article was terrible as was the report as its nothing like hunger games.

Looks pretty good really.

Agreed you can see his front light lighting up the road never mind his back one so even if it was covered he should still have seen the front one.

I agree john we have all had things happen but I have yet to run over a cyclist- and there is no way they would be saying anything other than what they are saying as they wont "confess"*
Also sick of seeing plod do reports like this with cyclist it seems like it was designed to make him as "invisible" as possible when videos show he was clearly visible., its like blaming women for what they wore and being there at that time etc.

RIP

* to be clear i have no idea if the account is true or false but they wont be saying i was fiddling with my radio and texting my mate when i ran him over.

[ddraver]

It's very sad and hard to comment because it can so quickly sound like victim blaming but...that video isn't great is it. I mean....wear a white jersey at least...

I've used more lights to ride through street lamp lit Central London.

[Cheeky Monkey]

Really? Crikey, to me that looks good.

[redefined_cycles]

Really? Crikey, to me that looks good.

+1 to that. Plus that front light. Its not a csr that the front light cannot be seen from behind. A front 'to see light' will defo be seen spreading across the road. Otherwise Mike would have been unable to continue riding!

Anyway. Lets see how it all pans out whrn the family speak and give their evidences tomorrow...

[redefined_cycles]

https://cycle.org.au/index.php/articles ... ll-inquest

Some good info into the days proceedings here

[Pirahna]

Re lighting. I live in the sticks but get a lot of cyclists along the lane, the best rear light setups by far are two lights, one on the seatpost or seat stay and one on your helmet (not that helmet). From a driving perspective the double light setup is really noticeable, when I'm riding drivers slow a lot more than they do for a single light.

[RIP]

On main BBC page now. Apparently when it's dark it's 'hard for a motorist to see'. Gosh really. I'm under the impression that darkness has been a regular daily occurence for a while now. I hate that term 'motorist', journalists seem to use it to downplay responsibilities. Implies we're still in the pootling era of car usage when people used to 'get the car out' on a Sunday. Similarly unpleasant when we get told 'the car crashed into the cyclist' as if it was some curious animate object with the driver just along for the ride.

If ten jumbo jets a year crashed in the UK and killed everyone on board we'd have done something about it by now.

[ScotRoutes]

If ten jumbo jets a year crashed in the UK and killed everyone on board we'd have done something about it by now.

Started making planes out of the same stuff as Black Boxes?