Another cyclist killed in London
Another cyclist killed in London
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aclivity

Original Poster:

4,072 posts

217 months

Saturday 7th February 2015
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another one gone - another truck.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-311926...

No idea of fault, although I expect
  • [ph mode]it's the cyclist fault[/ph mode]
  • [cyclist mode]it's the drivers fault[/cyclist mode]
  • [real mode]wait for the police to state the driver isn't going to get told off regardless of fault[/real mode]

Laurel Green

31,120 posts

261 months

Saturday 28th February 2015
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Not a truck, but a group of 'lads' chased and stabbed one of a group of friends who were out cycling. Sadly the stabbed boy died close by in Caledonian Road - two bikes were also stolen during the fracas.

Clicky.


okgo

42,126 posts

227 months

Saturday 28th February 2015
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Right next to where I used to work. Nasty.

speedking31

3,913 posts

165 months

Thursday 9th April 2015
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And another truck / cyclist. A contractor that has been awarded several safety / good contractor awards over the years.

Laurel Green

31,120 posts

261 months

Thursday 9th April 2015
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frown

Black can man

31,973 posts

197 months

Thursday 9th April 2015
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That's an awful picture.


Laurel Green

31,120 posts

261 months

Thursday 9th April 2015
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Five this year and four of them women. Roll on the end of construction of Crossrail then we might see a reduction of such deaths.

ALawson

8,054 posts

280 months

Friday 10th April 2015
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Unfortunately the end of Crossrail will be replaced with Thames Tideway Sewer, Northern Line Extension, Bakerloo Spur (sort of part of Crossrail), as well as loads of other Civils projects.

upsidedownmark

2,120 posts

164 months

Friday 10th April 2015
quotequote all
It is sad, but how many folks are killed in cars, motorbikes or crossing the road each year and why are those any different? There does seem to be a bit of a victim mentality around this stuff - any individual death is a sad thing, but no matter what you do there will always be accidents. Even if you never leave your living room, one day something left-field is going to kill someone. At some point you having done what you can do control/minimise risk, you have to balance it all against your ability to live a reasonably enjoyable life, and accept that one day it might just be your time. I don't really get why every time this happens there's a whole thread of how X,Y and Z must be changed - I don't get the impression that the accident rate for cycling is disproportionate to any other form of transport?

As a reasonably active, adrenaline loving kind of person, I dearly hope that if I do get shuffled off prematurely it does NOT lead to those 5 terrible words: "this must never happen again" - and for the record, I cycle, motorbike and drive. Last year I covered more miles on my bike than the other two combined, so no, I'm not a 'hater'.

okgo

42,126 posts

227 months

Friday 10th April 2015
quotequote all
Laurel Green said:
Five this year and four of them women. Roll on the end of construction of Crossrail then we might see a reduction of such deaths.
Agree. Was on embankment the other day and it felt like I was on the road to cover there were that many hgvs about.

JRM

2,065 posts

261 months

Friday 10th April 2015
quotequote all
upsidedownmark said:
It is sad, but how many folks are killed in cars, motorbikes or crossing the road each year and why are those any different? There does seem to be a bit of a victim mentality around this stuff - any individual death is a sad thing, but no matter what you do there will always be accidents. Even if you never leave your living room, one day something left-field is going to kill someone. At some point you having done what you can do control/minimise risk, you have to balance it all against your ability to live a reasonably enjoyable life, and accept that one day it might just be your time. I don't really get why every time this happens there's a whole thread of how X,Y and Z must be changed - I don't get the impression that the accident rate for cycling is disproportionate to any other form of transport?

As a reasonably active, adrenaline loving kind of person, I dearly hope that if I do get shuffled off prematurely it does NOT lead to those 5 terrible words: "this must never happen again" - and for the record, I cycle, motorbike and drive. Last year I covered more miles on my bike than the other two combined, so no, I'm not a 'hater'.
I see your point, but I think the difference here is that all 5 deaths this year (http://www.london24.com/news/cycling/london_cycle_deaths_2015_1_3964719) and most in previous years, have involved lorries running people over. So in the same way that speeding is often listed as the cause of a road fatality and lower limits are introduced, here we have an example of a repeated type of accident and something must be done to stop it.

I wish I knew what the answer was, but removing HGVs from London's road during rush hour, or simply putting deflectors/covers over the wheels and down the sides might stop this continually happening.
Education of lorry drivers may also help, as it is much more rare to have bus/cyclist fatality and they are driving similar sized vehicles.

Banana Boy

467 posts

142 months

Saturday 11th April 2015
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JRM said:
Education of lorry drivers may also help, as it is much more rare to have bus/cyclist fatality and they are driving similar sized vehicles.
I think you're correct, education is a large part of the solution but singling out lorry drivers is unfair; all road users should receive a constant drip feed education through various mediums like TV advertisements ('Think Bike', 'Clunk-Clip Every Trip...'), bill boards and posters etc.

Also, buses and lorries are both large vehicles but they are very different vehicles from the drivers seat! You should try to find an opportunity to sit behind the wheel of an Artic or Rigid and see for yourself just how much visibility there is around the cab! (It's not great!)

gazza285

11,134 posts

237 months

Saturday 11th April 2015
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Banana Boy said:
You should try to find an opportunity to sit behind the wheel of an Artic or Rigid and see for yourself just how much visibility there is around the cab! (It's not great!)
For fks sake, nobody show that bloody TFL video again.

Banana Boy

467 posts

142 months

Saturday 11th April 2015
quotequote all
gazza285 said:
Banana Boy said:
You should try to find an opportunity to sit behind the wheel of an Artic or Rigid and see for yourself just how much visibility there is around the cab! (It's not great!)
For fks sake, nobody show that bloody TFL video again.
???

ALawson

8,054 posts

280 months

Saturday 11th April 2015
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Crossrail have spent a huge amount of money in leading demanding that all vehicles are FORS and Crossrail compliant, I.e. Decent warning signs, boards alongside the sides, all round mirrors and all drivers need to have attended a 1 day briefing.

Although not working on Crossrail any more I am working on Thameslink where our project has adopted there requirements as has our company.

As part of the things we do, one of our muck away contractors does provide a vehicle where last year we got cyclists up in the cab to see how restricted the views were. Most of the cyclists are quite surprised by the lack of vision.

grumbledoak

32,571 posts

262 months

Saturday 11th April 2015
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JRM said:
<Blah, blah, blah> and something must be done to stop it. <promote favoured 'solution' among seemingly innocent list of implausible ones>
It's rather campaign by numbers, no? Care to cough to an interest?

Tragedies, obviously.

Batfink

1,032 posts

287 months

Saturday 11th April 2015
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Personally I never pass a lorry coming up to a Junction. I expect them not to be able to see me. I always filter down the centre of the road as well as quite frankly I find squeezing through between the curb and cars quite risky and theres no room to escape..
Cyclists need to be aware that in stop start traffic drivers are unlikely to use their mirrors when turning left. When turning right you are more likely to have something like a motorbike passing..

bigunit00

890 posts

176 months

Saturday 11th April 2015
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Batfink said:
Personally I never pass a lorry coming up to a Junction. I expect them not to be able to see me. I always filter down the centre of the road as well as quite frankly I find squeezing through between the curb and cars quite risky and theres no room to escape..
Cyclists need to be aware that in stop start traffic drivers are unlikely to use their mirrors when turning left. When turning right you are more likely to have something like a motorbike passing..
Agree with this. Better to err on the side of caution given the outcome if you don't.

joema

2,754 posts

208 months

Saturday 11th April 2015
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So what can be done? More ASL's? Removal of barriers? Signs on cyclist waiting areas?


hoyin

1,233 posts

266 months

Saturday 11th April 2015
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The lady killed on Lambeth bridge was someone I knew.

She was our client for one of our projects and my colleagues used to meet with her weekly.

I am also a cyclist.

Sometimes you just make a mistake. Either on a bike or in a car and afterwards you say $hit I shouldn't have done that.

It happens to everyone. I think all parties need to recognise this, we all need to be more cautious and considerate to all road users and improve road safety as much as we can.

The loss sadly is not only for the person who died and their loved ones but the ones who were also part of the accident. No one intends to do anyone any harm so the trauma is felt by all. Let's not forget this.