A38 death at Trerulefoot of granddad biker blamed on his overtake error

Human error and a damp road surface on a notorious stretch of road awaiting improvement funding from the Government have been blamed for the death of a biker. Grandfather Nigel Sweet had been riding his BMW 1,200CC bike westbound on the A38[1] when he overtook a car using an overtaking lane near Trerulefoot. An inquest at Cornwall[2] Coroner's Court[3] into the death of the 63-year-old from Saltash[4] heard how Nigel tried to overtake one more vehicle as the overtaking lane - also known as a creeper lane - was coming to an end.

The driver he was overtaking applied their brakes and so did Nigel. The hearing held in Truro[5] today (Thursday, December 19) was told that on that morning on March 7, Nigel then lost control of his motorbike which fell on its side and slid into the other lane with oncoming traffic. A second or so later Nigel came off the motorbike and, as he too slid across the other lane, he was hit by a Peugeot van.

Despite applying their emergency brakes and taking evasive action, the driver could not avoid him. As a result the van went over Nigel who suffered multiple fatal injuries. The inquest was told that none of the vehicles involved had any defects and none of the drivers had been driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

There were also no defects on the road. Emergency services were called to the scene shortly after 7am but despite efforts by paramedics from the ambulance service and Cornwall Air Ambulance[6], Nigel could not be saved and he was declared deceased at the scene. Sign up[7] to receive daily updates and breaking news alerts from CornwallLive straight to your inbox

Dashcam footage from the first car Nigel overtook shown in court showed the creeper lane going uphill from Tideford towards Trerulefoot near Liskeard[8]. Nigel can be seen overtaking the car just after another car has completed the same manoeuvre. Then, as the road becomes a single carriageway again, the collision happens.

The hearing was told that the 1.7km (just over one mile) stretch of road between Tideford and Trerulefoot has been the scene of eight injury-collisions between 2019 and 2023 which resulted in two people receiving serious injuries and six others receiving slight injuries. Jack Mason, the road safety manager for National Highways South West, which looks after the A38 and the A30[9] in Cornwall[10] as well as motorways in other parts of the UK, told the hearing that while the two-plus-one lane setup involving a creeper lane is perfectly fine in itself, there are plans to improve the whole 10km (six mile) stretch of road from the Carkeel roundabout in Saltash to the Trerulefoot roundabout with a view to improve road safety further. He told the inquest that in collaboration with the Vision Zero partnership from Devon and Cornwall Police[11], the plan is to have 12 average speed cameras installed along the road and reduce the speed limit between Landrake and Tideford from 45mph to 35mph.

However when asked by assistant coroner for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly[12] Guy Davies where the scheme was at, Mr Mason said it was still in its design phase and was awaiting funding approval from the Department for Transport. "What we want is to proactively intervene to further reduce collision numbers in the future," he said, "and reduce the risk of collisions and reduce the risk of deaths. But there is no formal funding approval yet."

Mr Davies said there was nothing the van driver could have done to avoid Nigel as he came off his motorbike when he tried to rejoin the single carriageway as it went from two to one lanes. Concluding in a road traffic collision death, he added: "It was rider error in wet conditions with a specific road layout that led Nigel to attempt an overtaking manoeuvre with insufficient space to complete that manoeuvre. In a narrow sense the creeper lane was a feature in the road traffic collision and contributed to that collision."

Mr Davies added that the A38 between Carkeel and Trerulefoot has a history of collisions which will likely continue unless the road layout is improved. He said in view of the fact that there is a safety scheme in place with no approved funding, and until that happens, the risk of future fatal collisions will remain. He said he will now send a prevention of future deaths (PFD) report to the CEO of National Highways calling for change to take place sooner rather than later.

He added: "In my opinion action should be taken to reduce the risk of future deaths. I will write a PFD demanding action be taken to review the safety arrangements on the A38 between Carkeel and the Trerulefoot roundabout." ?

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References

1. ^ A38 (www.cornwalllive.com)
2. ^ Cornwall (www.cornwalllive.com)
3. ^ Court (www.cornwalllive.com)
4. ^ Saltash (www.cornwalllive.com)
5. ^ Truro (www.cornwalllive.com)
6. ^ Cornwall Air Ambulance (www.cornwalllive.com)
7. ^ Sign up (www.cornwalllive.com)
8. ^ Liskeard (www.cornwalllive.com)
9. ^ A30 (www.cornwalllive.com)
10. ^ Cornwall (www.cornwalllive.com)
11. ^ Devon and Cornwall Police (www.cornwalllive.com)
12. ^ Isles of Scilly (www.cornwalllive.com)
13. ^ Click here to join CornwallLive on WhatsApp (chat.whatsapp.com)
14. ^ Privacy Notice (www.reachplc.com)