Cyclist, 26, died after ‘freak accident’
A Bath student died in a “freak accident” while out cycling, an inquest has heard.
Matthew Reeves, 26, a PHD student at the University of Bath, died while out on an evening ride with his cycling club.
Coroner Maria Voisin, at Avon Coroners Court in Flax Bourton, heard how Mr Reeves died in a collision with a Mitsubishi Shogun, driven by Philip Warden, on Bonhill Road in Bishop Sutton, just after 7pm on Thursday, July 8, 2021.
Mr Reeves’ family have previously paid tribute to the “extremely hard-working”, “perfect son” who had received first-class honours in physics from Cardiff University before moving to Bath to study a PHD in condensed matter physics.
His family said he was “honest” and funny” and that he passed away just months before finishing his PHD. Mr Reeves was born in Merthyr Tydfil but his family moved to Hereford when he was at a young age.
In a tribute, they said: “It was while he stayed in Bath his love of cycling grew. He joined Bath Cycling Club where he enjoyed participating in the group rides and other social activities.
“Matthew made many friends from Cardiff, Bristol and Bath universities along with many more with Bath Cycling Club. Matthew was the perfect son.”
The court heard how Mr Reeves had been with his cycling club at the back of a loose group when he crossed the road into the path of an oncoming car after losing control of his bicycle. The car was not going too fast, it was found, as dashcam footage showed.
Mr Warden, from Temple Cloud, who has held a licence for 32 years, was on his way to feed his sheep after dropping his daughter at a local pub. He had already seen several large groups of cyclists out that evening.
In his statement, Mr Warden said: “I had passed about twothirds of the group, then I saw the rear cyclist wobble and come out. I shouted ‘no!’”
He found Mr Reeves lying unconscious in the road. He asked the cyclists, who had stopped, if anyone them had medical training and some did.
Mr Warden called 999 and was on the phone for 20 minutes relaying instructions to the cyclists helping Mr Reeves. The police arrived and drug and alcohol tested Mr Warden (all negative), who told police he had a dashcam on in the car at the time of the crash.
One of the cyclists, Luke Belton, had been riding alongside Mr Reeves.
In a statement, he said: “I can recall that I was aware of a car to the right of us cyclists. I heard a shout from ahead that they were slowing down. I got the impression the car was going too fast. I braked and slowed down.”
Another cyclist, Alistair Mcchesney, said in his statement that he thought the car was also going “too fast” and remembered Mr Reeves “lurching out” into the path of the oncoming car.
An off-duty police officer, PC Jones, from Avon and Somerset Police, was also out for a cycle ride that evening. He wasn’t with Mr Reeves’s group but arrived at the scene shortly after the collision. He gave CPR while an off duty doctor checked the Mr Reeves’s airways before the ambulance arrived.
Jack Alexander, a specialist paramedic with South Western Ambulance Service arrived on the scene. At this point, Mr Reeves had been in cardiac arrest for about 30 minutes.
Mr Alexander said nothing further could be done and Mr Reeves was pronounced dead at 7.42pm.
PC Niall Fyfe, a collision investigator with Avon and Somerset Police, said that Mr Warden was not driving too fast for the road, as his dashcam proved he never went above 34mph in a speed limit zone of 40mph, and that it was likely at the time of the crash he was doing closer to 20mph.
The cyclists had been braking after a shout of “car” from the front. PC Fyfe said after hearing statements and seeing the dashcam footage it was likely Mr Reeves clipped wheels with another cyclist as braking occurred causing him to swerve directly across the carriageway.
Footage showed he was “destabilised” on the bicycle as he “swerves sharply” into the road. The 26-yearold had unclipped his right foot from the cleat, and whilst falling was lowering his foot to the ground.
The whole incident happened in 1.3 seconds from when Mr Reeves came into Mr Warden’s view.
PC Fyfe said Mr Reeves’ bike computer showed he was travelling at around 15mph. The dashcam showed Mr Warden had started to brake in the 1.3 seconds and that he was likely going around 20mph. The collision had a combined force of 35mph.
PC Fyfe said: “Mr Warden reacted extremely quickly” and added, “he could not have avoided the collision”.
“Mr Reeves lost control of his cycle and touched wheels with the bike in front of him,” he said.
Mr Reeves then swerved to avoid taking out his fellow cyclists. PC Fyfe said the dashcam footage was “pivotal” in explaining what had happened.
He described it as “a freak accident”, and added “nothing that could have been done” by anyone to avoid the collision and noted the “speed limit is appropriate” for the road.
Coroner Voisin concluded that Mr Reeves had died on July 8 after he “lost control of his bicycle” in a “road traffic collision”.