2010-03-10 - Rider Down/Fatality, Lauriston Road, Hackney

i think its time to get behind Boris cycle safety action plan in full force

Can't make it over there in time, perhaps some westies would be better placed to bolster the numbers?

it's continuing in a pub afterwards (poss not with the council people/speakers) if you can't be there at the start. probably going to be OK to drop in late to the proper RBK&C thing, I think the talking will go on for a while...

So who is comin to the meeting?

I'm going. Meeting Alien and a few others.

@Alien. Don't suppose you know if they have bike parking? Would be pretty funny if they don't.

Awful. Such sad news. RIP

RIP.

My warmest thoughts with family and friends.

Terrible news again. RIP.

I'm meeting my MP in the House of Commons tonight and will be giving him some grief about this.

I think this has been mentioned before, but the amount of lorries this time of year is crazy- a lot of this is to do with local councils spending their remaining budget before the end of the financial year on road repairs.

So sorry to hear this news, 1 fatality is devastating, but 2 in 2 days is just unbelievable.

Not again.

RIP

Report from this is London.
Another left turning lorry. It seems :(

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23814252-charity-worker-cyclist-killed-in-crash-at-roundabout.do

If councils have money to burn then they should put some towards getting rid of those barriers. Personally I don't see the point in them.

so sad.

just to make it worse, this morning around the corner, i saw a bus vs little girl incident. not nice :(

It seems in London at least, if you are not quick enough off the lights you are at high risk from HGV's.

They are too detached high in the cockpit from the side/rear of the vehicle even with mirrors to see or hear.

So frustrating.

What makes me mad is the headline news yesterday was an appeal for a change in the driving tests to better educate drivers about driving across rail tracks.
13 accidents 12 deaths in the WHOLE of the UK.
Now take nothing away from the tragedy of those deaths but if you drive across a railtrack, with a train coming..FFS I can’t see how education will help some of those people. Yet more innocent people (in London alone) who when commuting to work and are crushed to death doing as the gvt created cycle lanes tell them (stay on the inside) and it does not make the news.

Sadly the train companies stand to loose a lot of money from the loss of a rail line in an accident, compensation to passengers, driver and victims so it makes it to prime time headline news. If there is no financial loss from these people getting crushed to death no the way to work then their life isn’t as valuable. Isn’t as important.

I think the single biggest button to push in order to get noticed is a massive financial hit on the HGV companies or the councils for poor road layouts. Then it would be perceived as a problem

^ All very disheartening.

Just a small observation on this tragic tragic news story.... tragic for all involved.... doesn't the phrase in the news story "as commuters rushed to work this morning".... kinda generally sum up so much about the dangers on our roads... commuters, in their cars, or vans, or lorries listening to Radio 2 (or 1 at full volume)... sometimes talking on their phones, sometimes talking to their passengers..... switched off from what's going on around them... and er, rushing?!

RIP

it is, the worst bit is knowing this and having it go around young noggin does no good to your attitude towards the Po Po when they pull you up for getting clear at lights or riding on pavements at shit junctions (not that i do that but so many cycle lanes force riders to do that)

Everytime i have been pulled at lights i have pointed out how the lights are a danger and they claim me jumping them outs my life at risk, when pushed they admit they have never ridden a bike around town. then they decided to fine you.. very soon i will come across a copper with a bad attitude that hits all the wrong buttons and i'll level him in frustration.. lets hope not, unless i can get away...

unless i can get away...

On your ratio ??
I doubt that :D

I don't understand why there aren't plain-clothes police around fining drivers for using mobile phones. I probably see more people using phones on my commute than I do cyclists jumping reds. If it's money and stats they need then how about doing something that'll make the roads safer? I don't get it.

But seriously...
It's truly sad.
I cycled past the spot where it happened last night - there were a few flowers tied to the railings.
I said a little prayer for the woman, and then spent most of the evening wondering how things could be changed. I started thinking of setting up an organization called Ride In Peace with delusions of radically changing how everybody thinks about cycling and human lives.
Crazy dream eh?

I have never known of a driver being fined for being on the mobile, i have had stand up rows with drivers telling me to fk off it's not their business whilst they are talking on the phone all over the road.
Wouldn't it be nice to have them at junctions pulling drivers and not cyclists.!? trouble is they already tax the ass off of drivers and cyclists are moving about without paying congestion charges, speeding fines, parking fines, tax etc etc so the drivers wallets are getting a break

And Boris has now come out and said that cyclists will be able to turn left at red lights and all these people are coming out saying that pedestrians are going to be maimed and killed by cyclists. I mean what the fuck are these people on? When was the last time a fucking pedestrian was killed by a cyclist? Christ I hate these bastards.

Probably not the time or the place. But this accident is one of the reasons that I never stop at redlights or crossings unless I absolutely have to

Ride in Peace would be good.. Has anyone reported mobile phone use to this site?

https://secure.met.police.uk/roadsafelondon/

Rode past again today, flowers, family and friends at the scene obviously very upset! It was a very humbling sight.
Can't begin to imagine how they are feeling.
My thoughts are with them.
I felt nothing but anger towards all vehicles today.

Wouldn't it be nice to have them at junctions pulling drivers and not cyclists.!?

^ This!
It happened last Friday, top of Maida Vale.
Ok so it was a speeding sting, but how satisfying watching car after car being pulled over for speeding up just a little too much as they exit the high street crawl and into an open stretch of road.