2008-07-14 - Rider Down/Fatality, Grays Inn Road

'if You Can't See My Mirrors, Then I Have Every Right To Crush Your Fragile Body Under My Wheels'

harsh. the drivers don't deliberately crush cyclists, and i'm sure having someone accidentally killed under your wheels is an extremely traumatic event for the driver. how would you feel if someone was killed by your actions, even if you couldn't really do anything to prevent it?

they've actually banned HGV's from city centres in many cities in Europe for this reason, people safety.

Instead they decant he HGV's into smaller more manoeuvrable vehicles that are far more safer for road users

[QUOTE=hael;227637] but looking at the figures Bill put out there 17 people were killed by HGV/LGV last yer and the government don't really see that as a problem./QUOTE]

Look again: 25 cyclists killed by HGVs nationally, 7 in London, out of a total of 15 cyclists killed in London.

http://www.movingtargetzine.com/article/15-london-cyclists-killed-in-2007

Just saw a cyclist undertaking a massive articulated lorry and talking on his mobile phone at the same time. OK not yet at the junction but silly all the same.

Just out of interest has anyone got the full story on this yet?
It hasn't come on the BBC website

^It won't. Dead cyclists only hit local newspapers websites.

If you could find a cyclist stabbed by a lorry driver then maybe 50/50.

on the other hand, would you like to hear all the horror stories? Funny on how we like to feed on horror stories.

Today I would like to thank all the drivers that made my journey safe and looked out for me and all the lights for being green, the peds that looked before crossing. Not so happy with so much sun in my eyes though, my new Oakleys don't really do the job :( but it is so much more fun than the tube!

Today I would like to thank all the drivers that made my journey safe and looked out for me and all the lights for being green, the peds that looked before crossing. Not so happy with so much sun in my eyes though, my new Oakleys don't really do the job :( but it is so much more fun than the tube!

:)

for tynan:
http://gloucester.gumtree.com/gloucester/20/24935720.html

I can't respond to my own ad.

Just out of interest has anyone got the full story on this yet?
It hasn't come on the BBC website

It certainly won't make it to the BBC, maybe if you are lucky a local paper might pick up on it, if they covered cyclists crushed to death by a lorry, they would be running the same story every couple of weeks.

it was actually a motorbike
http://www.camdengazette.co.uk/content/camden/chronicle/news/story.aspx?brand=CAMCOnline&category=news&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=newscamc&itemid=WeED16%20Jul%202008%2010:23:50:900
fascinating debate though.

If you don't undertake trucks you're not likely to 'be next'. Trucks aren't going out of their way to mow us down. People have to realise drivers can't always see bikes and act accordingly, ie. not scooting up the fsckign side of a lorry/truck/hgv/van etc.

I'm a Lorry driver and a fixed rider! I suppose I should spontaneously combust or something? I am incredibly aware of both sides of the story and I'm always looking out for fellow cyclists almost to the point of paranoia. Although there is lots of really really careless cycling going on out there and we all need to take responsibility for not being hurt, I can tell you from experience that there are a lot of Lorry drivers out there who seem to have a seriously homicidal streak when it comes to cyclists and pedestrians!

When you sit in a lorry your so high up that it almost removes you from the reality of everything going on around you. It's almost like a video game. It's really easy to kill things in a video game. Unfortunately I think this is what happens to a lot of lorry drivers and the reality of really hurting someone just dosent feel real until it's to late.

I have had more arguments and near fights about this than I care to talk about. It always drives me to maddness. Until more laws are created and we get a more cycling friendly city, we have to assume that every car, pedestrian and lorry are out to get us and act accordingly.

what he said,
we have to assume that every car, pedestrian and lorry are out to get us and act accordingly
+1

I drove a car for the first time in two years on holiday last week (in Italy) and I had that videogame feeling that Elguapo describes - just strangely disconnected from the road compared with what I'm used to. And this was a in a car!

I also find the roads quite unfriendly and without naming the usual suspects ie drivers, I find cyclists pretty grim. Not a smile, not a tiny bit of community spirit when you are at the lights being bullied by drivers, motorbikes. And I've noticed that if I overtake a male cyclist, he sometimes becomes super competitive, spins like crazy. It is actually very amusing. Like a guy in a BMW being overtaken by a 2CV.

Tiresome...

+1

This morning I spoke to a student of the cyclist killed on Grays Inn rd (a 38 year old lecturer from UCl). She was shocked it hadn't been reported, mid conversation we had to jump back out of the way of two skip lorries cutting that corner of Grays Inn rd and guildford st, the cracked pavement bares testament to this being a regular occurence. What she did say was that the police had mentioned proposed legislation regarding HGV access to certain London roads. Has anyone else heard anything about this?