Wednesday 18 February 2015

Tollbar End death

January's meeting of the Cycle Coventry Advisory Group began with a minute's silence to commemorate the death of Andrew Wolfindale, who was killed in a collision with an HGV at Toll Bar End on 6 January.

As is usual with a death resulting from a Road Traffic Incident, the police are investigating the circumstances of the crash.

Is that good enough? The police will only concern themselves with whether a case can made which will be strong enough to stand up in court. Everyone is "considered innocent until proven guilty", so it's not unlikely that no case will come to court. Yet a man has died, so something, and I expect quite a number of things, weren't as safe as could be reasonably expected. A lot of other people who use the junction think so too. But unlike incidents which involve trains or aircraft, there will be no body to conduct a full public investigation and to make (legally binding) recommendations to improve future safety.

It's no wonder that travelling on the highways is far more dangerous than travelling across the skies or in a train.