2013-11-05 - Rider Down/Fatality, Bloomsbury Way / Southampton Row (London)

Fucking hell. Not again. RIP

RIP Francis Golding. What an horrific and tragic thing to happen.

He will be sorely missed by many, and London has lost one of its most influential and respected planning experts.

Ow no, again the black logo :(

RIP rider, condolences to the family.

Why hasn't the logo gone black?

RIP rider.

Why hasn't the logo gone black?

RIP rider.

I pm'd velocio a few hours ago , think he just hasn't checked his inbox yet

RIP Francis

Have you made yourself known to the police as a witness?

I hadn't but will do.
RIP

R.I.P. Francis

Sad sad news I'm so sorry to find out he didn't make it.

Rest In Peace, fellow rider.

Rip :(

My condolences go out to this rider's family and friends. I've only just heard about this.

thoughts and prayers for the rider, family and friends.

Building Design article (think it requires free registration) http://www.bdonline.co.uk/5063217.article
obituary in the Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/francis-golding-civil-servant-who-went-on-to-work-with-the-likes-of-rogers-and-stirling-and-influenced-the-look-of-modern-london-8933489.html

Camden New Journal

Cycle death inquest: Coroner 'disappointed' with council's lack of urgency in improving Holborn junction.

Londonist has some more details about the inquest here: http://londonist.com/2014/04/cyclist-and-pedestrian-die-in-separate-collisions.php

A witness, another cyclist, said ”I don’t think he was paying enough attention for two seconds of his journey and he really paid the consequence”.
Coroner Mary Hassell — who was extremely critical of cycle superhighways during inquests into the deaths of Brian Dorling and Philippine De Gerin-Ricard — summed up the incident by saying of Mr Golding “he just didn’t see [the coach]“. But she castigated Camden Council for a “lack of urgency” in improving the junction since his death in November 2013. The junction in Holborn has seen 77 collisions in the last 10 years, 29 involving cyclists and three which were fatal.

I think that is unfair victim blaming of Francis Golding. The police collision investigator had not seen all the cctv, especially the one showing the coach turning left from the 3rd lane on the right. The coach stopped to let a taxi pass on the left and then moved off without seeing Golding's well lit bike behind the taxi.

The coach turned left from the third lane?

Just a reminder. We don't allow 3rd party conjecture in these threads.
That includes uncorroborated witness accounts.

Please leave the discussion of exactly how this incident happened to the relevant authorities.

My info comes from evidence given at the coroners inquest yesterday. The purpose of the inquest is to understand what happened and why. At this stage that is important for all of us.

Everyone's worst nightmare: being killed by a driver and some jerk claiming it was our fault.
Shame on that witness.

Good work, Charlie!

I'm not sure if I rather than you was reprimanded by object, for posting the Londonist quote on the witness account?

I'm a bit puzzled about the inquest, though. Has the coroner already come to a conclusion or is the investigation still ongoing?

The police collision investigator had not seen all the cctv, especially the one showing the coach turning left from the 3rd lane on the right.

How is this possible??? My faith in the British legal system is diminishing by the minute.

Evening Standard

Coroner slams 'slow' response over triple cycle death junction in Camden

The coroner found that the cause of death was "Road Traffic Collision". She is concerned about the road layout and will be writing a "Prevention of Future Deaths" report to Camden Council suggesting changes, Camden will have eight weeks to reply.

The coroner also said "I find that the cycle hit the coach rather than the coach hitting the cycle. That may seem slightly pedantic but I think it's helpful to understand how the collision occurred".

I think that is correct from a view of the mechanics of the collision, it explains how the crash happened but not why. Quite a few witnesses expressed the view that they couldn't believe how Golding did not see the coach.

In answer to the question "Why didn't the cyclist see the coach" the coroner commented "A moment's inattention. Who's to say that couldn't happen to anyone in this court. . . . I accept the evidence of the collision investigator."

A slightly different interpretation of the evidence could be that Golding saw the coach, saw that it stopped to let the taxi zip past and assumed the driver had seen him too and would let him pass. By the time he realised that he was mistaken it was too late to avoid the collision.

My view is that a "mistake" is a fairer assessment than "inattention".

The purpose of the coroner's court is very limited, it is not allowed to attribute blame to any particular person. A coroner's court hears evidence from witnesses who can be questioned by any involved person but the evidence is not tested by cross examination.

Assessments about blame are up to the police investigators and Crown Prosecution Service, if they think someone might be to blame then that person has a right to a fair trial where the evidence is tested in a criminal court. There has been no prosecution in this case.

Olaf, Charlie, both of your posts contain publicly available opinion from the inquest. There's no point in us censoring them.

My comment was aimed at a different post which I deleted.

It's clear the the coroner was mistaken here, The coach was in the right hand lane, to the right of another straight on lane. In this context:

Highway code, multi-lane roads:

133
If you need to change lane, first use your mirrors and if necessary take a quick sideways glance to make sure you will not force another road user to change course or speed. When it is safe to do so, signal to indicate your intentions to other road users and when clear, move over.

applies

It was the coach driver's responsibility to check the lane he was moving into/turning across was clear before moving left into it. He didn't do this.

One would assume Mr Golding was expecting the coach driver to give him priority, as he gave the taxi driver priority, following these rules.

One would expect, in this case, for the coach driver to be prosecuted for careless driving, which this clearly was.

The driver's evidence was clear that he looked in his mirrors and saw the taxi, then looked again and did not see Francis Golding. Almost all the other witnesses were surprised that Golding appeared not to have seen the coach.
It is unlikely that a jury would convict the driver on that evidence.
The driver of the bus that killed Dorothy Elder at this junction in 2009 was acquitted after the nury heard evidence that her view of the road in front of the bus might have been obstructed by windscreen wipers.

"Evidence" meaning the driver's testimony?