2009-06-12 - Rider Down/Fatality, Holborn

RIP unknown cyclist.

I am confused, is the same incident that this thread was sarted for?

This morning I could not stop myself telling off a girl on a bike about her stupid headphones. And tonight reminding a guy of his motorbike's lights being off.

I can understand your anger at them.

Hope you can cope with this with support when you need it Ale, I can only imagine how hard to witness such a thing is.

Forum memorial ride? Seems we need to do them regularly if there's going to be any press for these HGV-related cyclists' deaths.

Ale, I'm sorry to ask, but I don't understand how the accident occurred. Do you know how the accident came to happen?

If they were on a straight piece of road, did the driver just get too close to the kerb and roll over the rider?

Bin lorry taking a left turn I think, I know this spot well. There's a 'cycle lane' painted down the road, and going east there tends to be quite fast from downhill off High Holbrn. The turn into Ely Place often seems very hazardous as its busy and vehicles tend to be in the lane before they've had a look in their mirrors.

I am confused, is the same incident that this thread was sarted for?

It's not, no. Ale was new to the forum so couldn't start a new thread.
I haven't heard anything at all about the chap I saw which I hope is good news. I asked at a couple of shops nearby on my way home the other night to see if they had been contacted by the police or had heard anything but no one seemed to know much..

Ride safe everyone.

I'm still hoping that Ale will tell us how he got the awful news. I haven't heard anything about a fatality through any other channels.

I didn't really want to say this, but its something I witnessed a few days ago, when on a bus:

The bus-driver kept intimidating a woman cyclist coming up from OKR to Elephant. I wanted to go say something to him, but it was clear he was doing it on purpose. The cyclist, to her credit, was a good rider, and confident, and kept her pace, and kept turning to make eye-contact with the driver, each time he nearly touched her.

I have never seen aggressive driving like that from that angle. I got off the bus (had to wear a suit, so couldn't cycle), and was left angry and shaken by what I had seen.

I'm sure these accidents in Holborn was due to negligence rather than aggression, but it really showed me how dangerous HGV drivers can be. He seemed to think that somehow, the cyclist would just accept his driving almost into her. Obviously he's never ridden a bike in London, so had no inkling how vulnerable the cyclist feels, and is.

I'm not sure what i would have done myself but I guess in hindsight he's a bus driver, so what can he do if you call him out on it to his face? People in a position of trust should know better than some van man bastard. Report him, even if it comes to nothing, the company may take it seriously and cause some grief for him. Get someone else to ring up and complain too, just to rub it in even more. 1 complaint? maybe just a busy body. 2 complaints? not looking so great for him. 3 complaints? this is serious, he must have been driving dangerously then.

RIP

Oliver, I have a reliable source. It was a left turn.

A memorial ride sounds a very nice idea.

This guy is also writing about it:

http://crapwalthamforest.blogspot.com/2009/06/breaking-news-another-woman-cyclist.html

The increase in fatalities from incidents such as this is down to a number of factors - more people cycling more often being the primary one, I think. However, I am stunned by just how similar all the incidents are.

I think a 'rule number 1' awareness campaign is necessary. As in, the first rule of cycling in the city is avoid HGVs, and the first rule of driving an HGV is quadruple check all of your blind spots when you're turning left, or something.

The news was reported on Wednesday on the Spanish 'Xornal de Galicia':

http://www.xornal.com/artigo/2009/06/17/galicia/joven-sada-fallece-accidente-londres/2009061719481354011.html

Thanks, Ale. It is deeply upsetting to hear this confirmed.

sucks

rip

Grim news.

They're terrifying things, them big rubbish trucks.

I was searching for news about this but couldn't find anything until now.

I went back to charterhouse street today to go through what happened before i give a statement to the police which i'll be doing on Monday. it's not on my normal cycle route. By chance i was there exactly a week after the even, almost to the minute.
I was sat there looking and thinking and trying to remember exactly what had happened when this fella came over to talk to me. He recognised me from the previous week. He'd been sat on one of the buses that was coming up Charterhouse while the dustcart was coming down.

The message put up on the wall had gone. I only knew it had been there as he'd told me. He also told me to search for this thread as there was info. and he told me the girls name.

It has helped a little reading this. At the time it was just shocking and i didn't really want to talk discuss it with any of the other witnesses, but a couple of days later i started to wonder more about how it had happened. I expect others feel the same, like Ale.

I don't know if i'll learn any more when i speak to the policeman on Monday. If i do i will pass it on. What i can tell you, and this is gleaned from what i saw and talking to the police on the day. I didn't see the girl get hit. when i first new something was wrong the dustcart was moving down charterhouse from holborn circus. The truck didn't stop until it had to because of a red light at the bottom of charterhouse. I was trying to get his attention but he just refused to look at me. Even with the truck stopped and and two others stood right in front of his cab waving and shouting it still took him about 5 - 10 seconds to glance down at us. The girl was dead when the truck dropped her on the road. One of the first people up to her was her boyfriend. He'd been cycling with her at the time. if you heard a scream it could have been his.

There are a few images that will stay with me from that evening; one of the things i found hard to accept was what happens after.
The officer that had taken my initial statement said I could leave so I walked back up Hatton Garden. About an hour later I walked down Farringdon street, past the bottom of Charterhouse. The street had emptied of people. It was still cordoned with a couple of officers standing at each side of the pavement explaining to pedestrians that they couldn’t pass. But all the paramedics and emergency vehicles were gone.
All there was were the vehicles that had been abandoned, the motorbike, a bus, a car, the dustcart.
And in the middle of the road was a red blanket, with the girl underneath. It was dark and she was all alone. that was horrible.

Thanks for posting, DEH. Hope you're doing ok.

DEH, thanks for posting this, and how absolutely horrible it must have been for her boyfriend, and for you to a lesser extent.

If you need some support after witnessing this, you could call RoadPeace for advice. They're at http://www.roadpeace.org.uk/index.shtml.

Best wishes.

RIP Maria.

And thank you for posting DEH

I didn't believe in any of this 'support' or 'talking to someone' business helped whatsoever until a few months ago.

If you're struggling DEH, take Oliver's advice.

Take it easy, dude.

I hope you are OK DEH, and talking really does help.

I cannot believe the actions of the driver. Unbelievable.

My heart goes out to her boyfriend. So so sad.

I've left some flowers tied to the nearest lampost.

For her boyfriend to see it unfold so horribly is so so cruel. I'm very sad reading your post DEH.
Nothing more cruel could happen to a person than see a loved one die like that. horrific :(
RIP unknown cyclist
and all the best to her boyfriend.

Hi guys,
it's Riccardo, Emma's boyfriend, the girl of the accident.
I'm sorry if I coudn't show up before.
I've read the whole post and I see that there are few witnesses between you. One of them (I don't remember which one, I'm sorry) had also a police interrogation, as I could understand.
I had one also monday the 15th. I could explain to the detective what I could see only after the traffic light, because I was in front of all and I turned my head only when I heard her screams.
She was under the lorry hung in some ways, with the bike or clothes. I went after her shouting to make it stop. People on the pavement where shouting too.
At one point (75mt after the traffic light!) the body has been released in some ways. She was lying on the ground already dead, losing loads of blood.
The lorry stopped only 20 mt, maybe more, after the body. Then the lorry driver tried to escape, but somebody on the pavement (thanks to him) stopped him again.
I stood maybe 10 mins looking the paramedics trying to do something, then a police officer brought me away from there.
I have to thank all the people there, who helped me in that moment.

I didn't understand if there are any of you who could see what happened IN the traffic light. I could just guess it thinking about the dynamic of the accident.
If there are other witnesses who didn't write here yet who knows anything of what happened in the traffic light, I beg them to write here or to contact me in private.

Some of you said that what happened was a left turn. I know for sure that was a left turn. Does this mean that for sure it was the drivers fault?

If you organize a memorial ride for this I will be very happy. I know also about the critical mass that they do every month. Unfortunately I won't be there because I came back to Italy to stay with my family.

This is what we left in the place with few friends the day after:

and this after few days:

Please let me know if you know something that I don't know yet.
Cheers.

Riccardo

sorry but the first pic didn't appear:

I'm so sorry for your loss Riccardo, all of my thoughts and sympathies will be with you and everyone else who has been affected by this in the coming weeks.

Sincerest condolences, Riccardo.