Cyclist Bryan Marris was killed in collision with a truck at an intersection in Mt Maunganui in 2023.
Keen cyclist Bryan Marris was commuting home past stationary traffic in April 2023, when the lights changed at a Mount Maunganui intersection.
He’d just reached the back of a truck and trailer unit, driven by Kelly Shearer, as the truck began to pick up speed.
As they both got closer to the intersection of Tasman Quay and Totora St, Marris was alongside Shearer’s cab as they travelled at a similar speed.
Shearer had turned on his indicator once the light turned green, but did not see Marris in the cycle lane, and turned left onto Tasman Quay.
Marris collided with the truck’s left front wheel and was knocked into the path of the truck’s rear wheels, and the trailer’s rear wheels.
At an earlier judge-alone trial, where Shearer defended a charge of careless driving causing death, he said he felt a bump which he thought was a pothole.
When he felt it a second time, he slammed on his brakes, got out, and saw Marris on the road.
He told police that when he saw a man lying on the road, he “knew he was gone”.
Marris was pronounced dead at the scene.
He was 59 years old when he died, on April 23, 2023, and his cause of death was a traumatic brain injury.
In findings released today, a coroner said Marris’ “tragic death serves as a reminder to all drivers – particularly those of heavy vehicles – of their obligations to cyclists on public roads”.
Coroner Ian Telford said submissions made by Marris’ wife, Brenda Marris, were a “helpful framework”.
She had drawn the coroner’s attention to the Road Code’s Give Way rules, which state that when turning left, a driver needs to check their left side mirror and blind spot for a cyclist.
“If the cyclist is going straight ahead, you must give way to them. If they’re turning left, you might need to make room for them.”
Coroner Telford said that cyclists have a right to use the road safely, and he endorsed the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi’s guidance that “cyclists can be quite vulnerable on the road”, as they are less visible and protected.
“As the driver of a heavy vehicle, you need to be particularly careful when driving near cyclists, as your vehicle is much larger and can limit your view of smaller vehicles,” the coroner said, referring to NZTA guidelines.
The coroner said NZTA had advised that moving through and turning at intersections is a common cause of cycle collisions.
When it came to heavy vehicles, there was a particular risk because of “larger blind spots”.
“If you are following a cyclist and want to turn left, wait until the cyclist has passed the intersection.”
The coroner reiterated that “at intersections, apply the same rules to cyclists as you would to any other vehicle on the road”.
He said: “If you are crossing a cycle lane, give way to cyclists before you cross.”
Coroner Telford said that in Marris’ case, the difficulties posed by blind spots were a central issue.
Brenda Marris had suggested that trucks should not be on the road with “life-threatening blind spots”.
In considering this submission, Coroner Telford referred to a similar case involving a cyclist and truck, where Coroner Louella Dunn had noted “ongoing concerns about heavy vehicle blind spots and the number of cycle fatalities in New Zealand”.
There had been 65 recorded fatalities involving cyclists since 2017.
Coroner Dunn had made several recommendations, but after consulting with NZTA and an independent truck expert, had declined to recommend retrofitting trucks with “additional blind-spot safety measures”.
She had found that such measures were impractical due to the diversity of heavy vehicles, lack of global standards, and multiple contributing factors to the crash, including road markings and positioning of cyclists.
However, she encouraged NZTA to pursue international consensus on “blind-spot mitigation technology” and to continue “promoting cycle safety education”.
Coroner Telford said he adopted a similar approach and made the same observations to NZTA.
In the judge-alone trial in the Tauranga District Court, Judge Melinda Mason acquitted Shearer on a charge of careless driving causing death.
The police case was that Marris had been “there to be seen”, and should have been visible in the wing mirrors, and Shearer did not check properly before turning.
However, defence lawyer Rebekah Webby submitted that the collision was an accident, and that Shearer had been a careful and prudent driver.
Judge Mason accepted that Shearer indicated for 12 seconds, and had checked his mirrors, but Marris had been in his blind spot.
She found that Marris had been travelling along the left-hand side of the truck, which was indicating, and said Marris “does not slow down as he approaches the intersection and does not stop at the conclusion of the cycle lane to check for left-turning traffic”.
“Given the cycle lane had ended, Mr Marris was not entitled to underpass the truck on the left-hand side; he did not give way to the truck as he was required to do.”
She decided that the road layout had contributed to the collision, and noted it had since been changed.
The cycle lane finishes earlier and directs cyclists onto a footpath well before the intersection. Green cycle lane markings that indicated an “advanced stop box” have been removed.
Judge Mason said in her written decision that it was now “very clear” the lane did not proceed through the intersection and left-turning traffic had right of way.
“These changes reflect an acknowledgment that the road layout contributed to the accident by its lack of clarity ... ”
Coroner Telford also noted the changes to the road layout in his findings and, given the improvements to the intersection, had no recommendations or observations to make.
The changes were made in May 2024, just over a year after Marris’ death.
Hannah Bartlett is a Tauranga-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She previously covered court and local government for the Nelson Mail, and before that was a radio reporter at Newstalk ZB.