2011-09-20 - Rider Down, Aldwych/Drury Lane

Happened just 10 mins ago. Guy in his 50/60s under a double-decker bus.

I was 20ft behind the bus so didn't see what happened, just saw the bus suddenly stop and two cyclists behind bounce into each other (both unhurt). Then a girl screamed and I could see the poor guy lying halfway under the middle of the bus, his bike (80s steel) was stuck mangled under the front axle.

I don't know what to say really, the poor guy looked conscious but there was a pool of blood around his legs. He was clearly in massive shock, so hopefully unaware of any pain. One of the bus passengers seemed to be some sort of medic and looking after him. There were atleast 5 people on phones to the ambulance straight away, and tens of gawking peds, so I moved on since I couldn't do anything.

Hope he's fine. Utterly grim.

It happened at the bus stop right before the left turn into Drury Lane on Aldwych. Shitty spot where I've had numerous close calls before, poor guy.

Fuck. Its one of those days :(

A very, very dangerous part of town for cyclists as you have buses, taxis and cars all chopping and changing lanes as well as pedestrians stepping out in front of you.
I hope the person is ok, it sounds very serious :(

Fuck. Its one of those days :(

Just what I was thinking as I rode in today. I really hope you're OK.

A bad morning.

Fingers crossed for you rider.

Please get well soon.

I know that corner well, will be thinking of the rider, hoping for the best.

This from twitter. Remaining conscious is a good sign I guess.

DanJGHolt: The packed 243 by Aldwych meant the driver missed the cyclist and ran him over. He was conscious when ambulance arrived, I hope he's ok
Hope the guy is ok, never want to see anything like that again.

saw this on evening standard as well. terrible news. hope he pulls through with nothing too serious

Not best pleased by the ES reporting - apart from thinking Konijn is a "he", they report a witness as saying "the bus was pulling into the stop and the guy tried to overtake from the inside". Does riding along the road count as undertaking just because a bus driver decides to pull in across you? Maybe I'm overreacting to the report (and I wasn't there when it happened) but passing the immediate aftermath has left me feeling sick and angry.

Be careful out there people.

2nd rider run down on a gyratory in one morning. That we know of. Avoid them!

Its such a shitty bit of road and the safest way to ride it is in the middle of the lane or on the far right of the lane.

I have heart in mouth moments every morning seeing what happens to people sticking to the curb as vehicles dart into the three left turns off Aldwych, cabs stopping for fares at the hotels and buses trying to bully their way to and from stops.

Just peddled past here on my way between meetings.

Full police tape, incident investigation wagon style.
Loads of 5-0 measuring shit.

Hope the rider is in better condition then all of this would suggest.

I still hate Aldwych, despite doing it every day. I saw there was major emergency service presence this morning but went up Wellington St as I was late for work. Fingers crossed for the rider.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23989013-cyclists-are-run-over-by-bus-and-lorry.do

So sad. Best wishes for a full and swift recovery to the rider involved.

I hate Aldwych. Apart from the mess of traffic fighting its way from lane to lane, there are some really nasty HGV furrows in the tarmac that are a nasty accident waiting to happen :(

I use that turning every time I come into town. It's quicker and easier than heading up the cycle crossing towards the ROH. Will think again after this. I always keep my wits about me as it's a minefield on that stretch by all the bus stops. I hope you get well soon unlucky cyclist, and that you can get back up riding again.

So who's using this forum for their journalism then, hmm?

I sincerely hope he makes a full recovery, sad times.

You ok Konijn? Can't be nice witnessing this sort of thing.

I wish motorists were more aware of cyclists. :[

Huh?! that Standard report has quoted Konijn as someone's blog...

Crap - didn't see this today. Always an iffy area for traffic and busses so as said ^^^ I stick in the central or right lane.

Fingers crossed for cyclist

Hope the rider will be ok. Bad day out there today.

my boss was on that bus this morning, he said he'd never wish what he saw on his worse enemy.

hope the rider is gonna be ok.

Sounds like attempted undertake.
Good luck on recovery who ever you are.

Not best pleased by the ES reporting - apart from thinking Konijn is a "he", they report a witness as saying "the bus was pulling into the stop and the guy tried to overtake from the inside". Does riding along the road count as undertaking just because a bus driver decides to pull in across you? Maybe I'm overreacting to the report (and I wasn't there when it happened) but passing the immediate aftermath has left me feeling sick and angry.

Agreed, there is no concrete information to go on right now.

Sounds like attempted undertake.
Good luck on recovery who ever you are.

Better not jump to conclusions, Festus. The main problem at this point is that it's difficult for riders wishing to go straight ahead towards Fleet Street to take the right lane. Many stay along the nearside until about the Drury Lane junction and then try to cut across. It is quite possible that the bus driver cut in on the cyclist as he was attempting this manoeuvre, but we don't know yet at this point.

The carriageway layout is problematic and many cyclists understandably don't want to go to the nearside lane of the two Fleet Street-bound carriageway lanes early, as the central hatching/taxi stand throws up all sorts of surprising actions from drivers changing lanes.

Witnesses to the collision or its aftermath should seek help if they need to, e.g. if the images are not easy to shake off.

Many good wishes to the rider. It sounds grim at this stage, though.

Problematic is not really the word for that part of London. Once you get to know the city well, having been cycling round it for many years, you get an intuitive feel for which stretches of road are particularly dangerous.
It's not always something you can put your finger on, but it usually involves multiple lanes merging and crossing coming from and going to more than one direction.

Examples for me include outside Kings Cross/St Pancras Station, the top of Blackfriars Bridge, The E&C roundabout (obvioulsy). The whole New Oxford Street, Holborn one way mess and Vauxhall Cross as we unfortunately saw yesterday. There are local ones specific to your part of the city that not everyone will know about.

Its been said countless times that these areas need a big redesign. They could certainly start by getting rid of the bollards in the middle of Aldwych and that fucking ridiculous taxi rank and put a big wide cycle lane there. How difficult can that be? The area is also not helped by it being slightly up hill which brings further problems