2008-09-24 - Rider Down/Fatality, Holborn

...something should be done, but cyclists don't pay road taxes so the government don't give a fuck. bastards...

This is such a lie, we should not be perpetuating this myth. The money drivers pay to keep their cars on the road to DVLA does not pay for roads. Everyone, whether they drive or not, pays for roads with charges such as Council Tax. Roads are the responsibility of various agencies such as local authorities, and central government via the Highways Agency and the MoT.

Anyway, plenty of cyclists own cars and motorcycles.

+1 to Skully. The correct name for 'road tax' is Vehicle Excise Duty and bicycles are exempt.

My thoughts are with the family of this poor soul. Too many people are dying on London roads at the moment.

Again, I don't know the details of this crash as I'd passed through there way to early this morning.
No one should be undertaking trucks. The clue is in the name.. 'undertaker'.
Fucking hell. :(
I berated a number of mofos on the way in this morning for not having lights. WTF? It was almost night time levels of light. Cycling is rising in popularity but it seems the levels of rider knowledge doesn't appear to be keeping pace. Stay behind the fucking truck!!!

yep, lights shoulda been on this morning. I failed.

My thoughts to the family and friends. It was the anniversary of my brother's death yesterday. He died in a car crash (he was the driver). This was the most painful thing I have ever experienced in my life.

Cyclists do mad things but on the other hand some large vehicle drivers do not do the basics like indicating and swerve between bus lane and the road like the coach driver I saw this morning who almost collided with 2 cyclists in the process.

I don't know if spoke-cards are the answer. There are around 500 000 cyclists in London. Much better to use the media to get the message out.

I propose that we write a letter to the Mayor, and copy it to the media. It should get some results.

I am thinking something like:

left-turning lorries major hazard
cycle lanes extremely dangerous as they put cyclists in wrong place
whole LCN needs to reconsidered
more pressure exerted on operators

and possibly copies to Road Transport Minister

Bill, I'd be happy to sit down with assist with media strategy if you need it. I can help pull out some contacts on the nationals who will be interested in pushing this.

This whole HGV situation is out of control and something needs to be done.

This has happened far to often

hang on.

There's 500,000 cyclists in London and so far in 2008 the death tolls is about 15 (as far as I know).

wasn't several years ago, there were a lots more cycling death?

edited -
2005, 20 cyclist killed on the road with 338 injuired.
2006, 19 killed.
2007, 16 killed with 9 being HGV related death.

the majority seemed to be HGV related incident.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7290900.stm

hang on.

There's 500,000 cyclists in London and so far in 2008 the death tolls is about 15 (as far as I remember).

wasn't several years ago, there were a lots more cycling death?

The graph is starting to point upwards again this year. Could be a blip. Could be massive increase in cycle sales, take-up of c2w schemes, increasing numbers of construction vehicles on the roads...

I wouldn't dispute the fact the death happening 15 times in cyclist/HGV accidents is 'far too often'.

thoughts go out to nearest and dearest.

R I P

nothing more can be said - another sad day.

swerve between bus lane and the road like the coach driver I saw this morning who almost collided with 2 cyclists in the process.

I understand in certain circumstances there's no way to escape something like this but the cyclists should still be aware that e.g. there's a right turning car ahead and a bus to its left, therefore, the bus will surely ignore my presence/misjudge my speed and swerve left to go around turning car. I guess it's mostly rider experience but some knowledge about what to do would also help. I know in my early days I read a lot about cycling and learned about road position, emergency turns and stuff. The people that are jumping on their bikes need to consider other road users and how to interact with them.. not just blindly pedal along enjoying their iWank and not noticing anything else out there.
I just think a lot of the time truck drivers get a hard time for, given what I've seen on the roads, seems to be mostly the cyclist's fault.

1+ to hippy, the cyclists did have a choice to either cycles safety or risk his/her live quite often (from what I see as well), always assumed the vehicle cannot see you, even if you made eyes contact with the said vehicle.

The graph is starting to point upwards again this year. Could be a blip. Could be massive increase in cycle sales, take-up of c2w schemes, increasing numbers of construction vehicles on the roads...

I wouldn't dispute the fact the death happening 15 times in cyclist/HGV accidents is 'far too often'.

well, 1 death is far too much, let alone 15 (in my viewpoint), but in a realistic sense of how many people started to cycles (probably double that of 2005), the death tolls is going down.

i am with hippy on this. i have three brothers who are HGV drivers so get to hear/see their side quite a lot. one of them is also a v keen cyclist and he hates when his work brings him to London cos of what he sees as incredibly reckless riding.

hang on.

There's 500,000 cyclists in London and so far in 2008 the death tolls is about 15 (as far as I know).

wasn't several years ago, there were a lots more cycling death?

edited -
2005, 20 cyclist killed on the road with 338 injuired.
2006, 19 killed.
2007, 16 killed with 9 being HGV related death.

the majority seemed to be HGV related incident.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7290900.stm

ed. this is a stupid response. The comment you were replying too simply stated that this has happened too much recently (i.e 2 deaths and one horrific injury in the last week alone).

Quoting yearly stats doesn't negate the fact that even one death on the roads is too many.

Quoting yearly stats doesn't negate the fact that even one death on the roads is too many.
Hoorah, somebody eventually hit the nail on the fucking head.

One death affects how many people? Friends, loved ones, work collegues all have to live with the consequence, not to mention the poor sod that actually dies/is permanently injured.

Very sad to hear this.. RIP

feel sorry for both cyclist and driver, an awful awful thing to happen. I do agree, London needs to wise up and decide it is either a cycling/pedestrian central zone during working hours, or it is not and declare itself as a city of no commitments and disorder to its users on the roads. Time to wake up London.

Rode past it as well today looked horrible. I had my delivery to my store in a big truck and talking to my driver he said that cyclists take so many risks infront of him and hes contantly amazed at what certain cylist will do-cut him up overtaking/undertaking says it scares the shit out of him.

That said he said that many of the lorries have so many blind sides that its near on possible to see certain areas so to a point he has to hope that cyclists have a certain amount of common sense when around him..
Or he added that various well placed mirrors or small cameras showing all the side and rear are available but cost money that many firms will not eb willing to spend.

bbc news clip
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=AfSW7W-dMEw

I feel sorry for both driver and cyclist. This is another awful waste and a horrid death. I agree, London needs to wise up! Make some clear decisions and for once do commit to them.

From that clip it looks like some undertaking may have been going on.
I just do not understand why some people would do this. If you really must get past something that size, then get on the pavement at least!

ed. this is a stupid response. The comment you were replying too simply stated that this has happened too much recently (i.e 2 deaths and one horrific injury in the last week alone).

Quoting yearly stats doesn't negate the fact that even one death on the roads is too many.

yes it is a stupid respond, my apologise.

Spoke cards are a start.
Whatever it takes to raise safety awareness, I'm there.

good job Dogs. the perfunctoral The perfunctory delivery of this news report says it all.

The thing is, being on the right of this lorry is possibly the worst place to be, dont you reckon? I think this is especially true if the rider is slow/inexperienced.

imagine : there's a red light, two lanes of road. the lorry is in front up ahead, so you pull up to the right of the lorry and wait there. meanwhile, a car comes up behind you and waits at the lights too. Light goes green, and you're fucked! If you carry on in a straight line, the lorry undertakes you (illegal+dangerous), and the car overtakes you (fine, but could easily hit you, and would also get pissed off!).

If traffic is backed up and stationary, then i guess you could overtake the lorry, but now there's the danger of a) motorcycles filtering and b) traffic freeing up and leaving you in a v. dangerous position on the outside.

The only time i would recommend overtaking a lorry on the right is if traffic is backed up and there's no way through on the left. But really, just hang back and wait behind it .. Also, always think 'what if?' as in 'what if that lorry swings a hard left, would it hit me + would i have time to get out of the way?' and ride accordingly!