Steve Moir: Cyclist killed in head-on Cambridge busway crash

A cyclist died in a head-on crash with a bus when he clipped the kerb separating him from a guided busway, an inquest heard.

Steve Moir, 50, fell in front of an oncoming bus in Cambridge while overtaking pedestrians on 13 September.

Ruling the death accidental, coroner Simon Milburn heard the driver "could not avoid" him.

Mr Moir's brother has called for more separation between buses and the path "so this would never happen again".

Huntingdon Law Courts was told Mr Moir had been on a section between Long Road and Cambridge's railway station on his regular commute home to Sawston from Cambridge, where he worked as a senior project manager.

Senior collision investigator PC Peter Bimson told the court "as he's attempted to negotiate a group [of pedestrians] he's steered left and his front wheel clipped the kerb" between the path and the busway.

The bus driver said he saw "unusual activity" on the pathway before Mr Moir fell directly into the path of the bus, at which point he "braked as hard as I could".

After hitting Mr Moir it took a further four seconds for the bus to come to a halt. He was pronounced dead from multiple injuries at 17:00.

PC Bimson said that after reviewing CCTV footage the bus driver had "acted appropriately to what he saw unfold" and was travelling at a speed below the recommended 56mph (90.1km/h).

After the inquest, Mr Moir's brother Rob said that the family "welcome" the fact that the speed of buses has since been reduced and white lines have been painted alongside the kerb.

"However, in our view without physical separation the likelihood of this happening again is quite high, especially with the number of people that use that stretch," he said.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive is ongoing.