2009-08-10 - Rider Down, Southwark Bridge, North side

Fingers crossed for a full recovery. Its hard to say that motor should take more blame as I do see alot of cyclists pulling stupid moves as well.

yes, but then peds sometime pull stupid moves and step out of the road, yet the fault will automatically lie at the vehicle, unless proven otherwise.

having the same with bicycle could make a big difference.

Fingers crossed for a full recovery. Its hard to say that motor should take more blame as I do see alot of cyclists pulling stupid moves as well. It would be nice to see less motor vehicles in London, but that is not going to happen realistically as its not only vital to keep things moving, but the attitude of the some motorists will never change.

Errrr. Sure you're on the right site?

From that Evening Standard article it doesn't look good. This is another horrible story and an accident that should be prevented.

How many times do cyclists need to be crushed by a left-turning lorry before something is actually done about it? It's great that the cops are ticketing RLJ and not addressing cabs in the ASLs or drivers not checking their mirrors. Disgusting.

numbers game, so easy to take money off of working men/women commuting to work by making a crime from a peti offence. it's much harder to bring a large firm to account for dangerous driving when amber lights/cutting corners and not checking mirrors are hardly crimes.. lazy fking po po.. but are we surprised!?

we just need to get the law sorted thought, like motorised vehicle are at fault when in a collision with cyclists unless proven otherwise like they do in Europe before creating those cycle superhighways.

I don't agree with that, as in my mind that would make cyclists think they are safer, which isn't helpful.

i saw a policeman pulling out a cyclist just in front of the motorbike accident today.
i wanted to shout wac!

Fingers crossed for a full recovery. Its hard to say that motor should take more blame as I do see alot of cyclists pulling stupid moves as well. It would be nice to see less motor vehicles in London, but that is not going to happen realistically as its not only vital to keep things moving, but the attitude of the some motorists will never change.

The way to change it is through financial strain, personal guilt and social un-acceptability; as they did with smoking.
Convince the smoker it will kill him, convince everyone how other people smoking will kill them and at the same time increase the cost of fags so it's financial undesirable.

Now the Gvt only did this when the maths showed them curing smoking related illness cost more than the tax they made on selling fags..

So what are the chances of them penalising drivers for endangering cyclists???

I'd say better training for all parties and a few more preventative methods such as more bike lanes, etc. would help.

Training is the key but i have not heard is as an option on the news... where are all the training schools??? maybe it's time for a LFGSS cycle school!

Robin and his kids. They came on Eilidh's memorial ride.

And this is the justification for parents driving their kids to school, instead of letting them cycle.

i dont blame them at all mate, who wants to be worrying all day that their kids might have been squashed by a tipper lorry? its not outside the realm of possiblity, especially with all the incidents this year

I don't agree with that, as in my mind that would make cyclists think they are safer, which isn't helpful.

not at all, cyclist will still be killed just as easy, but certain dick heads will realise knocking one off could cost him his license/job etc so will take a little more precaution
the introduction of this will cause a huge backlash from car drivers against cyclist and there will no doubt be calls for tax/ID/enforcement of highway codes etc but thats the nature of the beast

What age can you get kids in a Christiana bike? I'm thinking - expense aside - it is way better to carry the kids in front, rather than behind you. Those kiddie trailers give me the heebeegeebees - if people cycle like they carry wheely luggage at least!

good question Jim.. i would prefer the seats directly behind. those trailers scare the life out of me as they can't be seen being so low down.

Buff Bill, I'm trying to keep a neutral view on this. I see logic in Ed's view though...

Greasy, there is an idea! I'm not sure how people could go about it, im sure the council could subsidize the training and/or get some of the companies to also help pay for their employees as they surely want to hang on to their staff? One thing I have noticed is a large proportion of these accidents are commuters and not on fg, thus my ideas above.

Prevention is key I guess.

p.s. sorry if my wording is shit this morning, groggy as hell

i dont blame them at all mate, who wants to be worrying all day that their kids might have been squashed by a tipper lorry? its not outside the realm of possiblity, especially with all the incidents this year

Yeah, but by putting more cars on the road, they are making it less safe for everyone else. Self-fulfilling prophecy.

All it simply take is just more people riding their bike to make the road safer.

One thing I have noticed is a large proportion of these accidents are commuters and not on fg, thus my ideas above.

Don't really know what you are saying here.

Commuters don't ride fgs? Fg riders don't get hit by lorries? Both are not true.

you were missing the point, I was saying that training should be offered out either free or as cheap as possible. I was not saying that fg riders dont get hit, I was saying generally the people here are a lot more road savvy, unlike alot of the commuters i see riding in in the morning all over the place.

I was saying generally the people here are a lot more road savvy, unlike alot of the commuters i see riding in in the morning all over the place.

It didn't stop Eilidh from getting killed.

fair point, I am aware that accidents happen and the fault does lay with the HGV's but I'm also saying on the way into work I see some cyclists pulling stupid moves with regards to cars.

you were missing the point, I was saying that training should be offered out either free or as cheap as possible. I was not saying that fg riders dont get hit, I was saying generally the people here are a lot more road savvy, unlike alot of the commuters i see riding in in the morning all over the place.

As edscoble says, it didn't stop Eilidh from being killed, or stop Ephraim from being run over. Some collisions might, might have been prevented with some better positioning on the road by the cyclists. Some almost definitely wouldn't have been - except perhaps by leaving the bike at home and taking the bus.

However, a significant proportion (can't remember the exact number) of cyclists killed by lorries were travelling in the same direction as the lorry that killed them, ie the lorry was NOT turning right or left. In some of these cases the lorry almost certainly ran them over from behind. There is very little that a cyclist can do in this situation.

but I'm also saying on the way into work I see some cyclists pulling stupid moves with regards to** cars**.

I don't really want to quibble, but I thought we were talking about lorries and cyclists.

I was just genralising there.

Child seat + dummy FTW

you know, I've noticed that people with child seat (and have child in them), vehicles seemed to give them more room and are very considerated.

Cycling with children is a great thing to do. I'm surprised the implication in the mother's statement is that her daughter might have taken her child along Upper Thames Street? I somehow doubt that she would have cycled with her there, given the environment, but of course if even a street like Upper Thames Street became acceptable to people riding with children, we'd know we'd be onto something. I'm just speculating, but I suppose her mother might not have had enough information about the route she took just yet.

In any case, very glad she escaped and huge applause to the quick-thinking witness who appears to have stopped the turning goods vehicle.

What age can you get kids in a Christiana bike? I'm thinking - expense aside - it is way better to carry the kids in front, rather than behind you. Those kiddie trailers give me the heebeegeebees - if people cycle like they carry wheely luggage at least!

bit expensive but:
http://www.mothercare.com/Taga-Stroller-Bike-Red/dp/B0028XFJWG/sr=1-55/qid=1249402543/ref=sr_1_55/280-6026427-9426403?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=A2LBKNDJ2KZUGQ&n=42803041&mcb=core

bit expensive but:
[http://www.mothercare.com/Taga-Stroller-Bike-Red/dp/B0028XFJWG/sr=1-55/qid=1249402543/ref=sr_1_55/280-6026427-9426403?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=A2LBKNDJ2KZUGQ&n=42803041&mcb=core](http://www.mothercare.com/Taga-Stroller-Bike-Red/dp/B0028XFJWG/sr=1-55/qid=1249402543/ref=sr_1_55/280-6026427-9426403?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=A2LBKNDJ2KZUGQ&n=42803041&mcb=core)

That looks awesome... i wish i had a kid now!

A cargo bike would've been a better investment and much more enjoyable to ride.