Indian Pacific Wheel Race

[Beebo]

To date. The driver has not been charged with any offences and that will make any compensation claim difficult.

Thanks for the update, sad reading.
I dont understand the above quote, 1000's of compensation claims are paid daily without any charges being brought.
Civil cases have a much lower burden of proof than a legal case. Hitting a cyclist from the rear would be uncontested in a UK insurance claim. I appreciate the Oz may be different.

 

[steveindenmark]

I thought you may be interested in a post that was posted by Mike Halls mother, Pat. She travelled to the inquest in Australia. A super, special person.

"I came half way across the world for my boy. I attended the Inquest and sat for three days listening to the evidence I knew whatever the findings will be that I have to live with it. There is no blame no anger and no recriminations
I went for my son who always asked people to be kind to each other and have empathy. I saw a young lad with fear in his eyes with sorrow in his heart and I took him in my arms and held him tight as he sobbed that he was sorry for what he had done. I hugged him and his girlfriend told him I forgave him and asked him to try to move on and find a way foward to look. after his young family and to have a good life . I came to Australia to find answers and I did I found the answer all around in the courtroom I saw destructive anger that is negative I saw people so wrapped up in their own need that it destroyed what my son stood for But I also saw incredible steadfastness and the ability to reach out and have compassion. I came away with clarity I had done want Mike would have done I forgave Be Kind to us"

 

[Cuchilo]

That is a very strong woman !

 

[Beebo]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-47396799

The inquest has finished. Mike’s death was “avoidable”.

There is mention of potential lack of reflective materials or rear flashing lights.

The driver seems to get off with no criticism.

 

[k_green]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-47396799
There is mention of potential lack of reflective materials or rear flashing lights.
.

This is so so annoying. They lost his clothes so they don't know!
And the driver admits he was distracted.

 

[ianrauk]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-47396799

The inquest has finished. Mike’s death was “avoidable”.

There is mention of potential lack of reflective materials or rear flashing lights.

The driver seems to get off with no criticism.

Thats a disgraceful decision

 

[frank9755]

The actual report isn't too long, is readable and is less annoying than the news reports:
https://courts.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/1324555/Hall.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3oXHyBEdt0jHnYoRkYTUPFl5PRa6q16eM0Rugg9pagJbhRUxsfY-hoRIo

Essentially, it is a victim blaming document in that it focuses on what could Mike have done to make himself more visible, and what new laws can be brought in to force other cyclists to do so, rather than what could drivers do to avoid hitting things in front of them.

However, my reading of it is that the coroner says that the driver may have been guilty of 'negligent driving' which carries a sentence of up to 2 years. The decision on whether to prosecute is to be left to the police. Probably they will do nothing but they might.

The most significant thing for the wider world of long distance cycling is that it doesn't blame the pursuit itself for the accident. It recommends that people in Australia have flashing lights, not that they ride no more than 150km per day and sleep for 8 hours each night. On that basis, what it doesn't say is actually good news.

 

[Slick]

Hard to imagine what his family are feeling tonight.

 

[srw]

Hard to imagine what his family are feeling tonight.

Frank is a veteran of that race. Its not impossible that their response is similar to his.

 

[Slick]

Frank is a veteran of that race. Its not impossible that their response is similar to his.

Yeah, I get that and understand why you may say that but I would be interested to know how many veterans would maybe change their minds when the outcome became obvious.

Not that I'm in anyway trying to detract from their efforts.

 

[Crackle]

The findings are not so different to how I thought they'd come out but as Frank says and the organisers obviously feared, the race itself has not been blamed. What's appalling is the police losing evidence which might have been useful in prosecuting the driver.

 

[frank9755]

For the family the loss of Mike as a person must be immeasurably greater than impact on a race or a sport, even one that he was the main founder of.

The inquest will have brought everything back for Anna and his family and I'm pleased for them that it is now out of the way.

It would have been a final insult to his legacy for the right of events such as this to exist to be threatened as a direct result of his death and I'm pleased this did not happen.

I stick to what I said at the time, and what others have also since said they agree with, that Australia is the scariest place to cycle on a road that I have ever ridden. I wouldn't ride there again and I wouldn't advise anyone else to do so. Having said that, Australians have to live with those conditions and I fully support whatever they try to do to improve cycling conditions there.

 

[steveindenmark]

The police investigation was pitiful but it was interesting to read what the other drivers had to say.