St Germans parish cllr Peter Rid and his colleagues had been campaigning for improvements to the notorious 'Torpoint Twisties' in the weeks before he died when his 1,100cc Honda left the road on one of the sharp bends, an inquest in Truro heard on Monday. Deputy coroner for Cornwall Andy Cox recorded an open verdict on 61-year-old Mr Rid, after hearing investigators and witnesses could offer no reason for the retired ambulancemen's motorcycle to have accelerated into a roadsign after failing to round the bend on the A374 near the Trerulefoot Roundabout. Mr Rid died as a result of multiple injuries on the evening of November 2 last year. Mr Cox said a number of possible causes for the accident had been put forward, including a sudden medical calamity, a fault with the motorcycle, distraction of the rider or misting of his glasses or helmet visor, but there was no evidence to support any of them. Witness Matt Black, of Newquay, told the hearing he had been riding his own motorcycle along the A374 when he came up behind Mr Rid who, he said, was riding within the speed limit and in a competent fashion. It had been dark and he had seen the motorcycle's rear lamp ahead of him and began following at a safe distance. Mr Black said that as they approached a bend in the road he had seen the lights of two oncoming vehicles on their correct side of the road. Mr Rid's machine was half-way round the bend on its apex when he passed very close to them. 'I would imagine it would have given the rider a fright,' he said, describing how Mr Rid's bike wobbled but remained under control. He accelerated away and Mr Black said he dropped back slightly as they approached the next bend to the right. 'What happened next was very strange,' he said, describing how Mr Rid appeared to accelerate very hard to 60 or 70mph without increasing the angle at which he was leaning to round the bend. Verge 'The bike crossed the outside lane in a gentle arc to the left, accelerating hard until it reached the verge on the opposite side. The rider didn't appear to have taken any evasive action at all.' He added that he had seen no brake light showing form the motorcycle, which hit the road sign head on. Mr Black said he went to help the rider but there was no response and he could find no pulse. He told the inquest it was possible Mr Rid may have been disoriented by the earlier near-miss, thought he had rounded the bend and was accelerating into the next straight. Police accident investigator MPC Gary Looker said there was no physical evidence to suggest a cause for the crash. The motorcycle had been well- maintained and, although it was dark, road and weather conditions were good. There had been a temporary road sign on the verge warning of a slippery surface, but that had not related to the location of Mr Rid's accident. There had been no obstruction or any apparent outside cause for the incident. MPC Looker suggested that Mr Rid's glasses may have misted over, disorienting him, but there was no evidence to support the theory. Mr Rid's daughter, Marie Ross, said her father knew the road well and, along with his parish council colleagues, had been pressing Cornwall County Council for action to improve safety along the stretch. St Germans Parish Council chairman David Elliott told the coroner there had been three accidents in the previous three weeks on that same bend. The council had discussed the road's safety at its meeting on the Monday preceding Mr Rid's death and had asked Cornwall County Council to improve the camber and marking of the bends. Mr Cox said it was normal practice for the county council to send a representative to inquests to produce statistics for accident scenes, but they were not present. He said that he was not in a position to influence highway policy, but he would be speaking to the county council about the location.
