Cyclists plan campaign to clear killed rider's name

Cyclists are preparing to campaign to clear the name of a rider who has been blamed by an Auckland Transport consultant for her own death. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Cyclists are preparing to campaign to clear the name of a rider who has been blamed by an Auckland Transport consultant for her own death.

They are asking the council organisation to withdraw a report its lawyer, Grant Illingworth, QC, provided to an inquest in Auckland last week saying cyclist Jane Bishop caused her own death under the wheels of a truck in Tamaki Drive in 2010.

Cycling advocate Bevan Woodward says he is seeking permission from her family in Britain to start a "Friends of Jane Bishop" campaign unless the council withdraws what he claims is a flawed report.

Mr Woodward testified at the inquest before coroner Gordon Matenga - who has yet to rule on the cause of the 27-year-old Englishwoman's death - that the former Auckland City Council failed to heed an earlier warning from him about an alleged pinch-point at the crash site.

Although Auckland Transport acted promptly in removing car parking spaces from the site just two days after Ms Bishop hit an open car door and was run over by the truck, a report from crash investigator Graeme Williams said the road layout was not to blame.

Mr Williams, a former police crash investigation unit head now in private practice, concluded in his report that Ms Bishop was to blame for her own death by riding through a narrow gap between the truck - which was stationary before the crash - and parked cars.

A crash investigator who provided evidence at the trial of motorist Glenn Becker in February, Dr Tim Stevenson, last night reaffirmed to the Herald his belief that the road layout was the most significant factor in Ms Bishop's death.