2010-03-09 - Rider Down/Fatality, Weston St x Snowsfield

There was an early evening death down Greenwich/Charlton way around a year ago. Getting these things off the road, say, in the mornings will increase the evening frequencies - especially during brighter summer evenings, no?

You're referring to the death of Adrianna Skrzypie. That was an absolutely horrifying and very unusual incident. The lorry was never traced--there were suspicions uttered at the time that it might have been travelling back to the Continent. I don't know if there is still any work ongoing trying to find out what it could have been.

Simply put, where there is HGV traffic, there will always be deaths--the danger is obviously not only to cyclists, but also to pedestrians. However, moving lorry traffic to times of day when there is less traffic overall would undoubtedly reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries. Peak times get people impatient--they accelerate to 'burst' speeds to try and make up for time that they've lost while stuck in congestion. This in turn obviously increases congestion (longer queues form more quickly, reducing time spent moving and increasing time spent stationary, leading to lower average speeds) rather than flowing more freely, at higher average speeds) and people get stressed.

Mind you, we can't allow the peak to spread evenly all throughout the day--that would only increase motor traffic in the long run--but it would be a definite step forward.