Inquest: Lake District tourist died in Kirkstone Pass crash
Rene Leeters, 59, died on Kirkstone Pass, which runs between Ullswater and Windermere, on September 14, 2023 after colliding with an oncoming van. Mr Leeters, known as 'Ronnie', was on the final day of a trip with a friend and was due to return home to Belgium by ferry that day. His friend of ten years said in a statement that Mr Leeters was a 'very experienced and competent rider', and that they were at the end of an eight-day tour of Scotland, having 'covered in excess of 3,000 miles'.
He said they left the Royal Oak in Braithwaite before having breakfast at Chinty's Cafe in Keswick. They then followed the A66 before turning onto the A591 towards Troutbeck, then heading to the Patterdale Hotel by Ullswater for coffee, which was the last time the pair spoke. After this they headed south on the A592 but became separated with Mr Leeters' friend, who was behind, headed toward Ings then to Windermere.
He became concerned at the lack of a text message from Mr Leeters and having seen a number of emergency vehicles heading north from Windermere, he decided to follow one after a short while. Soon after he arrived at the collision scene around two miles north of Troutbeck, where he was told by a police officer that Mr Leeters had died. Stephen Walsh, driving north in the white Ford Connect van involved in the collision, submitted a statement to the court.
He said he was on holiday in Grange with his girlfriend and had decided to drive to Kirkstone Pass for sightseeing. He recalled seeing a sign on approaching the pass that said '50 per cent of accidents on this road involve motorcyclists'. Mr Walsh reported that around 12.15pm on a 'lovely, sunny day', he was approaching a left-hand bend bordered by a dry stone wall when he saw a motorcycle approaching him 'on the wrong side of the road'.
He came to a sudden stop, and attempted to steer out of the way, noting that Mr Leeters was travelling around 30mph and in an 'unusual position', leaning forward and to the right, 'as if he was preparing to get off the vehicle'. Mr Walsh said: "I had nowhere to go because of the drystone wall. "I could only watch as the motorcyclist continued to ride into the front offside of my van.
"There was nothing more I could have done to avoid the collision." A driver behind Mr Walsh assisted in performing CPR as Mr Leeters was unresponsive. Emergency services were called while passers-by tried to help.
Paramedics arrived at 12.37pm but were unable to resuscitate Mr Leeters, whose death was confirmed at 12.54pm. Assistant Coroner for Cumbria Robert Cohen commended the efforts of medics and passers-by who stepped in to offer assistance. He said: "It's clear to me that they really did everything they possibly could to assist and recover the situation."
A postmortem carried out showed that Mr Leeters had several undiagnosed problems with his heart but had suffered a haemothorax associated with an aortic transection in the collision, which was 'incompatible with life'. A collision investigation report concluded that it was 'not a high speed collision', and tests proved that neither Mr Leeters nor Mr Walsh had alcohol or drugs in their system. The report offered two possible causes for the crash - that Mr Leeters had suffered a cardiac episode while at the wheel rendering him incapable of controlling his bike, and that he was distracted by looking for his riding partner.
It also said that physical and eyewitness evidence showed that Mr Leeters had veered into Mr Walsh's path. Mr Cohen accepted the cause of death offered of multiple injuries caused by a road traffic collision. He said that it was 'possible, but not necessarily probable' that Mr Leeters had suffered a cardiac event prior to the crash.