Warning signs might have prevented cyclist's death, says coroner

Carolyn Dumbleton was a proficient and experienced cyclist, the coroner said

A coroner has said signs should have been put up to warn cyclists about a "badly degraded" stretch of road where a woman fell from her bike and was fatally injured.

Carolyn Dumbleton died after crashing in Willersley Lane, Cromford, Derbyshire, in July 2018.

An inquest heard other riders reported falls at the same spot in the weeks before and repairs were scheduled.

However they had not been completed before Mrs Dumbleton's accident.

The hearing at Chesterfield Coroner's Court was told Derbyshire County Council, the highways authority, had been made aware of the damage to the road in May 2018, when another cyclist fell on Willersley Lane.

The council then sought to carry out repairs by August.

Derbyshire coroner Peter Nieto said: "Quite a deep area had been hollowed out in that section, which clearly posed quite a significant hazard to cyclists."

Mr Nieto said there had been six visits by highways workers to the sites before Mrs Dumbleton, 52, was injured there.

"The county council should have taken some interim measures to mitigate the hazard the degrading road surface posed to road users, particularly cyclists," he said.

"Warning signs should have been put up. They were not."

Repairs were carried out after the fatal crash

The inquest heard Mrs Dumbleton, from Lincoln, and her husband Ian were keen club cyclists who chose to go for a ride in Derbyshire that day.

GPS data showed they were going at 23mph (37 km/h) down a hill when they reached the degraded area.

Mr Nieto said the poor state of the road would only have been evident when they were 20m (65ft) from it, leaving them only two seconds to react.

The coroner said warning signs would have alerted Mrs Dumbleton, who might then have been able to slow down or take evasive action.

Mr Nieto said Mr and Mrs Dumbleton were "proficient and experienced" cyclists on well-maintained bikes and were not riding inappropriately fast at the time.

The court had heard from a senior council highways manager, Glynn Dutton, who conceded signs should have been put up.

The inquest heard the county council had inspected the road in February 2018, as part of a routine three-month check, and found no major faults.

However it was later badly damaged by extreme weather including the Beast from the East freezing spell later that month.

'Tragic accident'

Mr Nieto recorded a narrative conclusion that Mrs Dumbleton came off her bike, suffering unsurvivable injuries.

He added: "It is probable she came off her bike when she encountered a badly degraded road surface."

Mr Nieto also apologised to Mrs Dumbleton's family for the five-year gap between her death and the inquest.

After the hearing, Derbyshire County Council's director of highways Julian Gould said: "We can only imagine how difficult the past few days have been for the family and friends of Mrs Dumbleton, and our thoughts remain with them.

"This tragic accident took place over five years ago and we recognise that there were actions that we could have taken at the time.

"Lessons have been learned and we have implemented multiple actions to prevent a similar accident occurring again.

"We hope that by our actions we have shown our determination to prevent a similar tragic accident occurring on our roads and we are sorry to the family and friends of Mrs Dumbleton for their loss."