2011-08-16 - Rider down, Clapham South side near Cavendish Road

Hey Eldo, what a tale to tell your grandkids someday, eh?! So glad to hear you're going to be OK!

I'm too new to start a new thread, either, so will use this space to ask you and other readers to please help with a campaign to fix an intersection just down Cavendish Road where another cyclist wasn't so lucky last month.

Following the death of cyclist Johannah Bailey on 31 July, a meeting with TfL officials has been arranged to press for improved safety measures for cyclists in the area of Cycle Route 5 where she died. The meeting is scheduled for 12 September.

TfL officials say their work is “data led” -- essentially, not enough people have died or had life-changing injuries for them to take action. Having secured a meeting with them nonetheless, it is crucial that we present as much evidence as possible to show why changes here are essential. The police also have asked for copies of correspondence into safety issues here, which they will include in their collision investigation report. Police reports can mandate changes to areas deemed unsafe.

We need to collect as much evidence as possible to strengthen our case. Have you – whether as a cyclist, driver or pedestrian -- seen or experienced near misses in this area? Have you had or witnessed an accident which went unreported?

The area under discussion is the South Circular from the junction of Rudloe and Poynders Road SW4 through to the turnoff from Cavendish Road into Klea Avenue. It includes all the entry and exit points to the area: Cavendish, Hazelbourne, Englewood and Abbeville Roads, and Klea Ave as well as the housing estate entrance. (A map of the area, together with witnesses' accounts of the accident, can be found here. The route is an old one, rather than one of the new "super highways". Incredibly, there is a safe - though somewhat inconvenient - route through the junction, but the cycle route signs ignore it

If you have information on road and cyclist safety issues in this area, please email it to TootingCyclist@gmail.com. Be sure to include your full name, postal address and email address or contact phone number in the body of the message both for verification and so that you can be contacted if further details are required. Your contact details will be used only for the purposes of this campaign. You will not hear from us again unless you request follow up information

If you have information to contribute, we hope to hear from you by 10 September. NOTE: Please use the email address above rather than simply replying here; I'm posting this request on too many blogs and websites to be able to monitor them all.

Those meeting with TFL officials on 12 September include Lambeth Councillor Christine Barratt, who has been instrumental in arranging the meeting, another local cyclist and myself and a formal representative from the London Cycling Campaign. I will try to ensure that the blue route crossing Cavendish Road, where Eldo had a lucky escape, is discussed as well.

Please forward this message to anyone else who might be interested and able to contribute relevant information.

If my tinkering here hasn't cleared the HTML code, I'd be very grateful if someone else would do so for me.

..Somehow I've managed to avoid breaking any bones just severe bruising and some lovely road rash. Frankly I think I'm the luckiest cyclist around if I can manage all that without either killing myself or breaking myself into little bits....

Glad you're on the mend, and that it wasn't worse. It sounds a scary accident, and yes, you are indeed a lucky fella. Heal up quickly.

I think this is about the same incident, posted on LCC forum yesterday:
http://lcc.org.uk/discussions/clapham-common-accident-last-august-help

Hi everyone,

I know this is a long shot but last August, my husband was involved in a cycle accident - he came off his bike and ended up trapped under a London tourist bus by Clapham Common on his way to work. Lots of cyclists stopped as he had been riding in a group of about 20. Lots of people were very helpful and one man got in touch via email to say what he saw happen and that he didn't feel my husband had done anything wrong.

We are having trouble getting back in contact with this cyclist and out of the blue my husband got a letter on Friday charging him in relation to this accident. We are completely shocked as he always cycled really carefully (the cycle is a write-off and so he hasn't ridden since) and especially as he was nearly hit by a car the week before (this was witnessed by a police officer as it was in Brixton just before the riots kicked off!). He has never so much had a parking ticket before!

If you saw the incident and think you might be able to help, please contact me! I would be really grateful. If we want to try to prove he is innocent, it will costs us a huge amount of money and we are loathe to spend this if he doesn't have a hope of winning! There are so many problems with the way this has been handled - it feels like you can be accused of anything and unless you have a fair bit of money behind you, you have no hope of speaking up but just have to make a guilty plea! Please also be careful - this could happen to anyone!

Many, many thanks for reading - sorry for the long post!

Elisabeth

Replies

Thanks - we have already done this! It is going to cost nearly £1000 to contest. The police did nto warn us at any point that he could face criminal charges for this, they have lost his statement, they have put forward several statements from drivers, all of which seem to suggest different things happened, but there is no way of pointing out the discrepancies unless we agree to pay the legal costs to plead not guilty. My husband doesn't have much memory of the accident and so has been told that will not stand up anyway against the other statements, hence he needs to find other neutral witnesses. If, however, he wants to plead guilty, he does get a 'discount' for any early plea, not that this 'is in any way intended to persuade [him] to plead guilty'!

By Elisabeth on 01:49pm 16 Jan 2012
If he is a member of LCC he is entitled to free legal advice. Please contact the LCC office for details.

Shocking! What would they want to charge him with?

Shocking! What would they want to charge him with?

theres some more info on YACF, allegedly bad brakes???

http://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=26458.msg1141044#msg1141044

that is really shocking - the police supposed that his brakes were defective and they also lost his statement?! is there any precedent for this kind of thing?

http://www.wandsworthguardian.co.uk/news/10565302.Killed_cyclist_s_family_pays_tribute_to_daughter_after_van_driver_walks_free/

Recommendations for improvements were made by LCC in 2008 but not carried out, Johannah died. Have any improvements been made since her death?

http://lcc.org.uk/articles/cyclist-killed-on-stretch-of-clapham-cycle-route-identified-as-dangerous-in-2008

Recommendations for improvements were made by LCC in 2008 but not carried out, Johannah died. Have any improvements been made since her death?http://lcc.org.uk/articles/cyclist-killed-on-stretch-of-clapham-cycle-route-identified-as-dangerous-in-2008

They have reworked some of the signage and repainted the 'on pavement' lanes but it still takes 3 or 4 light controlled crossings to get in our out of the southern section of Cavendish road.

We had a lot of meeting with local and GLA politicians and TfL engineers. In the end TfL said that these were not high priority junctions as there had been more casualties at other locations.

That view might have changed with the Mayor's new cycling vision and commissioner. Their 'quietways' proposals sound good, allegedly the London Cycle Network done properly. If they cannot sort out where the quiet routes cross TfL roads such as the South Circular then the scheme will fail.