2011-10-28 - Rider Down/Fatality, Woodstock Road, Oxford

I didn't know her myself, but a friend of a friend of mine was killed this morning while cycling on the Woodstock Road in Oxford.

I don't know the details yet, but she was involved in an incident with a cement mixer.

I grew up on that road, it's one of the big 5 roads leading into Oxford, and a road I've cycled down thousands of times.

It really hits home when it affects people you know, and in an area you know so well.

RIP Joanna.

My condolences.

http://www.cherwell.org/news/town/2011/10/28/cyclist-dies-on-woodstock-road

collided with a cement mixer lorry

The man driving the lorry ... was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.

thought and prayers for joanna, her friends and family.

another tragedy.

R i p...

My God, the poor girl, it's the most predictable type of collision and it's still going on.

My sincerest condolences to her friends and families.

From the newspaper link above don't like this line

'The victim, who was on a bicycle, collided with a cement mixer lorry'

RIP and condolences to family.

How awful. I hope you can comfort your friend somehow, John. This must hit close to home.

http://www.cherwell.org/news/town/2011/10/28/cyclist-dies-on-woodstock-road[QUOTE]collided with a cement mixer lorry
[/QUOTE]

From the newspaper link above don't like this line

'The victim, who was on a bicycle, collided with a cement mixer lorry'

RIP and condolences to family.

The line about 'the cyclist colliding with a vehicle' is found in many crash reports. While it's fairly routine and ingrained, so that people may just use it without thinking, I often feel that it can be an unconscious slip of a journalist's underlying belief that the cyclist is to blame--specifically, for 'colliding with that particular vehicle', or, more generally, as cyclists 'put themselves and others in danger' (which is a widely-held belief).

sorry to hear john. such a tragic unnecessary loss

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/9334358.Tributes_to_cycle_crash_victim/

RIP joanna.

Aw, that's horrid.

I used to live at the top of the Woodstock Road - it's not a well-designed place for cyclists - motorists come rattling off the ring-road and somehow forget to slow down to 30.

We have to wait for the inquest, but the arrest of a man - still at the wheel of a cement lorry in his mid-70s - makes me feel like this is another case where the cyclist didn't have a chance. RIP Joanna Braithwaite.