E-bike rider cleared of killing pedestrian
He’s not guilty of careless driving despite hitting 30mph
An electric bicycle rider has been cleared of killing a woman by careless driving in the first case of its kind.
Bricklayer Thomas Hanlon, 32, was said to have been travelling at up to 30mph before he ploughed into Sakine Cihan, 56, before leaving the scene without checking on her.
She was left bleeding with multiple fractures and was rushed to hospital by ambulance but died of a brain injury the following day.
It is believed to be the first death of a pedestrian after a collision with an e-bike in the UK.
By law, bicycles with an electric motor can only be driven without a licence or insurance if their power is limited, and the motor automatically switches off at speeds above 15.5mph.
But the court heard Mr Hanlon’s bike was capable of travelling at double that speed – so it was classed as a motorcycle, and a rider would need a licence.
Mr Hanlon, of Hackney, east London, was charged with causing death by careless driving and driving while uninsured and unlicensed. But an Old Bailey jury deliberated for over an hour yesterday to find him not guilty of all charges – including an alternative charge of careless driving.
Mr Hanlon was riding a modified £850 red ‘Hardrock’ mountain bike, which had been fitted with a highpowered motor, and was travelling up to 10mph above the 20mph speed limit in Dalston, east London. The court heard he had slowed down before colliding with Miss Cihan as she crossed Kingsland Road on August 28, 2018.
Jurors were shown CCTV of Mr Hanlon riding the bike moments before the crash as Miss Cihan tried to cross the road – despite the lights being green.
Mr Hanlon’s barrister Claire Howell said road users are ‘entitled to assume pedestrians will follow right of way’ and so his perception response time may have been ‘longer than two seconds’ when Miss Cihan stepped out.
She also said Mr Hanlon thought his bicycle qualified as an e-bike rather than a motorcycle, explaining why he did not have a licence.
Mr Hanlon told police he braked when he saw the victim in the line of his speeding bike, but didn’t have time to stop. Expert witness Paul Summerton confirmed that
‘Arms and legs everywhere’
when Mr Hanlon approached the crossing he was doing between 27 to 32mph – at least 7mph above the speed limit – but had slowed to between 20 and 23mph by the time of the crash.
Another cyclist, Raymond Murphy, said he was overtaken by the speeding bike swerving and cutting through traffic and the next thing he saw was ‘arms and legs everywhere, flying in the air’.
Joshua Stubbs, who was outside a nearby cafe with his three-yearold daughter, saw Mr Hanlon collide with the pedestrian’s head before they both fell to the ground. He said Mr Hanlon ‘looked dazed and confused,’ and that ‘the lady lay motionless on the road’.
Mr Hanlon then left the scene but turned himself in after an appeal by the Metropolitan Police. He told officers: ‘She [Miss Cihan] rushed out in front of me to cross and she didn’t even look at me, she didn’t look left or right... basically I could do nothing.’
The prosecution claimed Mr Hanlon’s speed amounted to driving without due care and attention.
In a statement, Mr Hanlon accepted he did not have the relevant licence or insurance, but said the way he was driving was not the cause of Miss Cihan’s death.