2012-10-10 - Rider Down, Cedars Road/Clapham Common

Passed by Cedars Road today; large cement lorry stopped just after the turn onto Cedars Rd from Clapham Common North Side and there were lots of police, fire trucks, etc. A small section of the pavement had been closed off with sheets. Does anyone know if a pedestrian or cyclist was involved? That's a busy intersection with lots of cyclists jumping the light out of Clapham Common.

Eurgh, my heart sinks when I see a lorry pulled up. Fingers crossed no-one's seriously hurt!

I think it happened at about 8 this morning, I rode past not too long after it happened as ambulance's were still racing there. There was already about 20-30 by passers trying to help

I dont know if it was a pedestrian or cyclist cant not be good either way its a bit truck

I've had the following message sent to me:

Possible Rider down, under a left turning tanker at the junction of Cedars Road and Clapham Common North Side. The person sounded conscious and in pain. I did not see a bike
.

Twitter currently has one post which identifies the victim as a cyclist.
I will not post is here as it's tasteless but here's a link for the sake of completeness.

I rode past too. I did not see a bike, but it has been tweeted that it was a cyclist. I think I went past only minutes after the accident. The person sounded conscious and in pain. I hope they are not too badly injured. There were loads of shocked cyclists stopped and on the phone or in tears all the way down cedars hill.

Another Twitter post confirming the incident as involving a cyclist

@Edlovatt
Really bad cycling accident at the top of Cedars Road, Clapham. Be careful #cyclists have your wits about you as motorists don't #staysafe

Link

Let's just hope everybody is ok.

I arrived at the junction well after this happened. There were blue tents up and a cement truck (not a mixer, the tanker type) stopped halfway into the junction. Blue tents were up and fire brigade were in attendance. Loads of Police and the junction closed off fully.
It looked like a classic cyclist down incident, but the Policeman I spoke to at the bottom of the hill said he thought it was a pedestrian, so I'm really not sure. Until we see a confirmed report I'd keep an open mind.

This junction was identified as an accident black spot two years ago and still nothing has been done to change that.

Hope the cyclist is ok- used to take that route every day and it is like running the gauntlet.

'London Air Ambulance lands on Clapham Common after woman cyclist seriously injured in lorry crash. Taken by road to St George's Hospital'

Ugh. Saw the traffic backed up this morning on Wandsworth Rd, asked the cops blocking off Cedars and had a bad feeling. This thread came up tops in google.

Unusual phasing on those lights.. it can be a bit hairy negotiating the right turn "lane" heading north-west.

Please avoid personal conjecture on what happened or repeating third part accounts.

I rode past around the same time as jaygee. A distressing scene. Many people trying to help and tanker stopped at junction at the top of Cedars Road. A very slow cycle to work afterwards. Hope the cyclist is okay, my thoughts are with them.

I didn't witness the accident but arrived shortly after. I did not approach the person as there were several others already around her and she was partially underneath the truck. I believe it was a female cyclist (there was a crushed bike also underneath the truck) and that she was trapped in some way. She was concious and clearly in considerable pain. The police, fire brigade and ambulances arrived around 5 minutes later but it seemed like an eternity.

Really hope she's ok and would appreciate if anyone who knows more adding a post. Was a very slow cycle into work and still feel a bit shell shocked by it all.

Report from yourlocalguardian here.

an update to that report here - http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/9976657.UPDATE__Cyclist__dragged_under_bonnet_of_lorry_/?ref=la

Hope it's not as bad as it sounds. Heal soon rider.

I worried about making conjecture as to whether RLJing had anything to do with it but I ride through this juncture daily and see many people doing so unsafely. Then again, I also see many people scooting up the inside where vehicles turning onto Cedars might not see them.

Jayloo - I also use this junction twice daily and often at weekends. I see very few RLJ cyclists here and when I do they're never female.

I've no idea what caused this collision but I see a junction with a number of danger points as a result of poor design and driver behaviour:

• Eastbound on Clapham Northside left lane is both straight on and left turn creating both a dangerous pinch point on east side of junction as two lanes of traffic re-merge and a classic 'left hook' risk for cyclists travelling straight on. See - http://goo.gl/maps/Or3I7
  
• At the north end of Cedars Road a recently added left turn filter that halves the usable ASZ making it too small for the volume of cyclists and brings cyclists entering the ASZ into dangerous conflict with left turning vehicles (all for the sake of 1 second on bus times)
  
• systematic jumping of the red light to turn right into Cedars Road from Northside (at least one vehicle on each sequence, often more)
  
• ASZs that are frequently blocked by motor vehicles
  
• speeding vehicles on Cedars Road (in excess of 40mph)
  
  

Both Cedars Road and Northside are wide roads, with wide and under used pavements. There's sufficient space for dutch style, segregated, cycle paths in all directions.

can we leave all the RLJing and speculation about what happen until further report please?

As Ed said, please keep this on topic and stay away from conjecture or repetition of 3rd party accounts.

lets hope the rider is ok.