2017-03-31 - Rider down (fatality), Mike Hall during the Indian Pacific Wheel Race

Cross-posting from the TCR thread:

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/mikehall2018

The inquest into the accident that killed British Cyclist Mike Hall in March 2017 will be held in Canberra, starting 24th September 2018. I am asking for help to afford to fly to Australia and stay there to attend the inquest and seek legal advice if I can.

Thanks to @WornCleat for posting it over there.

Coverage in Guardian today: https://twitter.com/guardian/status/1044132634518016000?s=21

Fucking hell, what a disaster of an article.

Indeed

The comments aren’t any great neither.

https://www.theguardian.com/info/2014/sep/12/-sp-how-to-make-a-complaint-about-guardian-or-observer-content

Complaint submitted, mealy-mouthed justification expected.

It's syndicated content from Australian Associated Press. Presumably published verbatim. Bonkers.

Headline has been changed to: "British ultra-endurance cyclist Mike Hall killed almost instantly, inquest told" but the Guardian URL remains the same at the moment.

Anna posted this on the TCR Facebook page:

I am here in Canberra to ensure the right questions are asked, it
wasn't our day to ask questions today, we will be doing so. Please
don't take everything from day 1 of a 3 day inquest as gospel. This
has been a long wait for answers, nobody feels it more that those of
us who loved Mike deeply. Please be patient and trust I am here for
Mike. "Anybody who knew Mike knows he was very capable, very
experienced, very intelligent, very aware of risks and very capable of
managing risks," she says. "So having anybody who didn't know Mike
maybe [suggesting he was] reckless or anything like that would be
unjust. It's important for me to be able to say that if I need to."
Anna xx

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/anna-s-long-journey-to-bear-witness-for-cyclist-partner-at-inquest-20180923-p505hp.html

There is also this:

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

BBC pretty much quoting the standard release, but at least it’s on the main site
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-45622381

"it was dark at the time and would have been hard for a motorist to see"

What if vehicles had some kind of anti-dark thing mounted to them?

What time was it? Before sunrise but that usually means there's light enough around and anyone who drives in Oz knows that dawn/dusk are bad for kangaroos crossing roads so should be taking extra care. 'Should be'

So we have the completely incompetent reconstruction, by the sound of it:

Senior Constable Potts of the AFP created a video using a reconstruction of Mike Hall’s bike to examine how visible Mike Hall would have been. This reconstruction placed the bike off the road to the left, substituted the Dynamo hub with a 6-volt battery, excluded the rear bag and its reflective strip, excluded any person or clothing, excluded any front white light shining on the road, and excluded any human movement of the bike. There was also a Police light stationed near the bike and an oncoming car in the simulation that was admitted into evidence by the AFP. In the submitted video, the reconstructed bike was difficult to see.

Sounds a bit like reconstructing slowing down a track bike by backpedalling.

The AFP tested the car’s remaining front light and found the light to be below the required brightness to pass a roadworthy test in both NSW and the ACT

And if it actually worked enough

Sounds like bullshit. Of course a stationary bike which is all of about an inch wide for most of it's height is going to be difficult to see. But that is not the circumstances of the incident so why bother reconstructing it?
It did have a front white light which would have illuminated the road and more importantly it had a rider on it.

Yeah, sounds a bit like reconstructing Titanic with an ice cube and a rubber duck. Idiots.

6:22. Less than an hour before sunrise. Maybe wouldn't have been pitch black at that point? Who knows

https://youtu.be/PvZpUjEfU74

He was pretty visible the night before I'd say

07.16am - sunrise on that day - http://www.sunrise-and-sunset.com/en/sun/australia/canberra/2017/march

Sounds like crap with that evidence ^

It's always light before "sunrise".

Yes, the coroner should not accept the 'reconstruction' by the police.

A bit more balanced coverage on the BBC website: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-45622381

ABC

You must mean the BBC.