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Cyclist dies after Hampshire crash (From Daily Echo)
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Tributes to popular cyclist killed in New Forest accident
7:39am Tuesday 15th January 2013 in News
Police at the scene of the accident on Sunday.
A POPULAR Hampshire cyclist has died following a collision with a car in the New Forest.
Southampton University student James Atherton was seriously injured on Sunday – just 24 hours after taking part in a race – and died in hospital yesterday.
Mr Atherton, 25, of Burgess Road, Southampton, was a well-known member of the Portsmouth-based VC St Raphael cycling club.
Last night club spokesman Mick Waite said: “James was making good progress at the club and everyone spoke very highly of him.
“He raced at Ludgershall in Wiltshire on Saturday in awful conditions and then went for a ride on Sunday.”
‘Experienced’ Mr Atherton was studying for a PhD in medicine at Southampton University, where he was a member of the cycling club.
The former Southampton Triathlon Club (STC) member was cycling with a group of friends towards Pennington, near Lymington, when the accident happened in Pitmore Lane, Sway.
Last night a message posted on the STC website said: “Some very sad news has come in regarding James Atherton, who was a club member for a short period of time for 2010-2011.
“He was involved in a collision with a car and, in spite of being airlifted to hospital, has died of his injuries.
“James was only 25 and was a strong and experienced cyclist. A really terrible thing to have happened and STC offers its condolences to his family.”
The car involved in the accident was a grey Volkswagen Golf that was travelling towards Brockenhurst when the collision happened just before 11am.
Police say the vehicle was being driven by a 57-year-old man from Evesham, Worcestershire, who was unhurt.
Pitmore Lane was closed for several hours while police investigated the cause of the crash and arranged for the car and the bicycle to be recovered.
Anyone who witnessed the collision is asked to contact the Totton Roads Policing Unit on 101, quoting Operation Baroque.
- Please consider other readers and keep your comments respectful.
Comments(23)
Forest Resident
says...
8:40am Tue 15 Jan 13
bigfella777
says...
9:54am Tue 15 Jan 13
sparkster
says...
10:25am Tue 15 Jan 13
Ginger_cyclist
says...
11:40am Tue 15 Jan 13
Brusher Mills
says...
1:17pm Tue 15 Jan 13
swimrunbike
says...
2:53pm Tue 15 Jan 13
callcopse
says...
3:07pm Tue 15 Jan 13
Offensive and gratuitous speculation above aside, it is a fact that 3 out of 4 cycle accidents involving cars are the fault of the car driver. Close to 100% of such involve no harm to the car driver. James being experienced increases the likelihood that the driver was at fault. Most road cycling certainly does not involve racing - it's not something club cyclists would be playing at. Aside from that we just don't know what happened in this case yet.
Marchwoodlocal
says...
3:57pm Tue 15 Jan 13
mickey01
says...
4:16pm Tue 15 Jan 13
Marchwoodlocal wrote:well said , who knows how low the sun was shining , nobody goes out to hit another user and those roads are narrow unfortunatley accidents do and will happen although that will not be a comfort to those who lnew him
Rip James, enjoyed riding with you. For those who love to speculate, have some respect. On this occasion there is no blame attributed to the driver. It was just an accident.
downfader
says...
4:51pm Tue 15 Jan 13
Hdg end mo
says...
5:14pm Tue 15 Jan 13
Very sad news
biggus2
says...
6:38pm Tue 15 Jan 13
downfader
says...
6:44pm Tue 15 Jan 13
biggus2 wrote:I dont want to get drawn into a debate on this but will say IF there is something to be learned from this I hope it is made public so that we can all learn from it - driver or cyclist.
Ginercyclist mate sorry you got it wrong this time. This was an accident and no blame can be put on the driver at all. There by the grace of God go all of us. . Marchwood local is right. You will find out in time. Lets give James and his family some peace so no more silly remarks please.
derek james
says...
9:04pm Tue 15 Jan 13
bigfella777 wrote:in the narrow roads of the new forest a large group of cyclists can be more vulnerable than a single cyclist, an impatient motorist overtaking has to pull in to avoid an oncoming car, not saying this happened here but i have seen it, i speak as a motorist and cyclist
I cannot understand how this can happen if they are cycling as a group, they would be clearly visible. Very sad.
downfader
says...
9:32pm Tue 15 Jan 13
derek james wrote:We shouldnt be speculating.. come on people..
bigfella777 wrote:in the narrow roads of the new forest a large group of cyclists can be more vulnerable than a single cyclist, an impatient motorist overtaking has to pull in to avoid an oncoming car, not saying this happened here but i have seen it, i speak as a motorist and cyclist
I cannot understand how this can happen if they are cycling as a group, they would be clearly visible. Very sad.
Ginger_cyclist
says...
9:41pm Tue 15 Jan 13
Torchie1 wrote:Who?
Ginger_cyclist wrote:Perhaps they should be trained, tested and licensed, like vehicle drivers are.
R.I.P James, yet another tragedy for cycling, there are many maniacs on the roads and something should be done about it.
Ginger_cyclist
says...
9:43pm Tue 15 Jan 13
biggus2 wrote:I said nothing about blaming the driver, I just mentioned the many maniacs on the road, that includes ALL road users who break the law or cross without looking, as people have said, we don't know details yet so I'm not blaming anyone.
Ginercyclist mate sorry you got it wrong this time. This was an accident and no blame can be put on the driver at all. There by the grace of God go all of us. . Marchwood local is right. You will find out in time. Lets give James and his family some peace so no more silly remarks please.
Ginger_cyclist
says...
9:54pm Tue 15 Jan 13
Ginger_cyclist wrote:Better yet why even bring it up Torchie? You idiotic moron.
Torchie1 wrote:Who?
Ginger_cyclist wrote:Perhaps they should be trained, tested and licensed, like vehicle drivers are.
R.I.P James, yet another tragedy for cycling, there are many maniacs on the roads and something should be done about it.
elvisimo
says...
8:57am Wed 16 Jan 13
We know that motorists need to me more aware of cyclists and cyclists should also recieve some form of training but rolling out the same ill informed rubbish is tasteless.
bit.ly/VZQ05P
says...
2:16pm Wed 16 Jan 13
Torchie1 wrote:I guess it hasn't occurred to you that the majority of adult cyclists also have licenses and drive cars at other times. Furthermore as members of a British Cycling-registered cycling club they have also have 3rd party insurance. This "them & us" way of thinking is part of the problem on the UK's roads, it a divisive and negative mindset that is one of the bad aspects of UK culture.
Ginger_cyclist wrote:Perhaps they should be trained, tested and licensed, like vehicle drivers are.
R.I.P James, yet another tragedy for cycling, there are many maniacs on the roads and something should be done about it.
Ginger_cyclist
says...
11:03pm Wed 16 Jan 13
bit.ly/VZQ05P wrote:Couldn't have said it better than myself.
Torchie1 wrote:I guess it hasn't occurred to you that the majority of adult cyclists also have licenses and drive cars at other times. Furthermore as members of a British Cycling-registered cycling club they have also have 3rd party insurance. This "them & us" way of thinking is part of the problem on the UK's roads, it a divisive and negative mindset that is one of the bad aspects of UK culture.
Ginger_cyclist wrote:Perhaps they should be trained, tested and licensed, like vehicle drivers are.
R.I.P James, yet another tragedy for cycling, there are many maniacs on the roads and something should be done about it.
Ginger_cyclist
says...
12:37am Fri 18 Jan 13
Ginger_cyclist wrote:I meant "better than that", should have spotted the missing word sooner.
bit.ly/VZQ05P wrote:Couldn't have said it better than myself.
Torchie1 wrote:I guess it hasn't occurred to you that the majority of adult cyclists also have licenses and drive cars at other times. Furthermore as members of a British Cycling-registered cycling club they have also have 3rd party insurance. This "them & us" way of thinking is part of the problem on the UK's roads, it a divisive and negative mindset that is one of the bad aspects of UK culture.
Ginger_cyclist wrote:Perhaps they should be trained, tested and licensed, like vehicle drivers are.
R.I.P James, yet another tragedy for cycling, there are many maniacs on the roads and something should be done about it.
Ozmosis says...
8:20am Tue 15 Jan 13