London Fixed-gear and Single-speed SJS Cycles

Sorry to hijack this thread but I can't start threads yet. Just wanted to bring attention to two accidents this afternoon. Borough High Street - cyclist and a lorry and also Kirkdale in Sydenham - cyclist and a bus.

Hope both cyclists make a recovery. Not a good week.

Boz Boz, this isnt the place - PM Velocio about getting you out of nursery early I'm sure he will for this
and edit your post.

That's really brave thing to do, the lorry's driver partner to post on here.

My deepest apologies to both of the families.

Julie, I hope you and your husband are ok. As a cyclist who was lucky to survive a similar accident last year, I feel very strongly about these accidents. I know that your husband, like the driver involved in my accident, did not go out intending to hit a cyclist, it was a tragic accident. All those involved have to live with it for the rest of their lives.

We need to stop placing blame, (and yes I know that some drivers should not be driving cars or HGVs, but that is not going to change) and find a solution. And it should start with educating ALL road users.

Ditto

Agreed.


Can I just say, that years ago in Kilburn High Road, an articulated lorry driver ran over an old lady, who crossed in the street, instead of at the pedestrian crossing (not even 30 yards away). The old lady was in a bad way, and the lorry's wheels had removed her leg from knee down. I was first on the scene, and provided first aid, while talking to Emergency Services on the mobile.

After the medics and police turned up, I went to see the driver. He hadn't moved. He was in total shock, as white as a sheet, and couldn't even move his legs. His only words were, "I've just driven all the way back from Norway, and I was almost home." I got him a cup of tea with 6 sugars.

Police deduced his speed to be less than 20 mph.

That driver took it very badly. He was nearly in tears. The lady survived, even though she was already in her 70s-80s.

Julie, thank you very much for posting, and I hope your partner will be okay.

As has been said: very brave to post here.
|However, 20 years behind the HGV wheel, so he knows all about blind spots. I have driven HGV's over the years and spent lots of time adjusting mirrors to account for "blind spots". Can't get them all, but you can reduce them to the point where a bit of bum shuffling makes rearward vision coverage 90%. And I was always aware of the other 10%.
Now I ain't passin judgment. I wasn't there so I can't say. But I do agree with many of the posts here: It is obviously a problem that driver/cyclist education/training is not addressing. How many more will die before road users and the powers that be take notice?

does anyone know any more about these cyclists? hope they are ok

Slack journalism at it's anti cyclist best, from thelondonpaper yesterday:

"....the 39yo fell under the HGV outside Oval Tube Station on Monday morning"

You what, cyclists do not just fall under lorrys!

In the same article, they later write "the driver has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving"

So which one is it then? She fell, or was killed by dangerous driving?

Melts!

Graham, initial newspaper reports of collisions very frequently have such unthinking comment on the actual events. You often read 'the cyclist collided with the motor vehicle', for instance.

I know, again, slack one sided journalism. They never just write 'a cyclist was knocked off by...." which is the obvious quote

^ Not at all. The language used is very precise. To say 'knocked off' apportions blame when none has been established before an investigation. To do this and print it is libellous. It's only done this way to protect the innocent.

But saying 'fell' implys just that. Like I said people don't just fall under HGVs

More on the victim:

http://tinyurl.com/mxpcpa

:(

It's not a great choice, but then it was 'thelondonpaper' and it does absolve blame until blame has been established through a proper investigation. If somebody falls it suggests it's an accident, which at this point it is. A tragic one nonetheless.

Anyway, I'm not meaning to derail the thread just pointing out why certain words are used by the press in these circumstances.

Hi all,

I'm new on here so im rummaging around and trying to find topics i can post in with relevance.

Anyway I had two bikes stolen Wednesday 24th June so I was back on London Transport last week and this week and my journey to work is from Camberwell to Battersea - I go thru Oval to get to Vauxhall.

I was on a bus and just as we were approaching Oval the traffic stopped for a period of over 10mins then the driver was informed of the accident up ahead so he opened the doors to let us off so we could get on with our journey to work.

Unfortunately my only option from the bus was to walk to Oval and get a train to Vauxhall and when I reached Oval I did not like what I saw - Loads of police, ambulance and fire brigade.

It is one of many accidents I have seen as Cyclist and Pedestrian but one thing that is weird... it does not put me off Cycling one bit but it does make me more aware of other idiots on the road...

Hope people come forward so the HGV driver may get prosecuted...

Not terribly appropriate mate. Try showing a bit of respect eh?

you can edit your post if you press the 'edit' button
you may find it useful

of all the places to try and bump up your nursery posts, seriously?

Email received from DS Tony Tobin (tony. tobin @ met. police. uk):


I am investigating a fatal cycle collision involving a HGV Tipper lorry at the Oval, Kennington at just after 08:30 on Monday 29th June 2009.

I can see there are some blogs on this site. If anyone actually witnessed the collision or events leading up to the collision can they please contact Met. Police, Hampton Collision Investigation Unit on 0208 941 9011.

Thank you.

Both are true, sadly. :(

Sorry to all if I caused offence - maybe my wording was not appropriate and sorry if it seems i was using this thread to 'bump' up my post total...

I thought the post was of relevance as I was on a bus shortly before it happend and had to go to the oval station to progress with my journey.

I feel terrible at upsetting you lot as i am new and don't want to start off on here in a bad way to massive apologies all round.

As for the edit button I never noticed it at first as they are tiny but I now see them.

As for my original post I got a message on my profile asking me to delete the post i made - i'm not able to do so - could someone please remove the posts I made if they are going to make things bad on here please?

Again I'm sorry...

Not sure what you mean?

It's OK youngie, feelings are running high because of the extreme sensitivity of the situation. If you do want to delete or edit your post further just click on the 'edit' button in the bottom right corner of your post, if you do this you will also find a 'delete' button on the page that comes up giving you the option to delete the whole post if you wish to.

Cheers fella - again I'm sorry!

I have edited the post - some of the info/text i put in was not needed... - can the guy who quoted the original post please remove the quote?

BTW im used to most forums but this one is a little different so again sorry for not noticing the post options...

Anyway has anyone come forward to give evidence to the accident? I hope they get some witnesses - drivers like that need to be punished.

RIP

This incident was mentioned on BBC London News this morning as well, appealing for witnesses.

I didn't see the posts objecting to youngie's posts earlier, but when I saw them they were already immediately relevant to the topic of this thread--and I'm pretty sure that I saw them before they were edited. Yes, s/he does mention the stolen bikes in passing, but I thought that was quite legitimate, given that the theft was the reason why s/he was on the bus stopped at the scene of the collison? Maybe I missed something.

You both had two bikes on Wednesday 24th June, and then later on Wednesday 24th June, the bikes were stolen.

Cheers fella - no biggy just don't want to come on here as a new member and seem like and ass!

Any more updates on this? I saw the 'Fatal Collision' notice today at Oval but I was wondering if you guys know if this has progressed any more? Would like to hear some justice out of this...

Dunno about new info but this was posted on BR



DS Tony Tobin (tony.tobin@met.police.uk)

I am investigating a fatal cycle collision involving a HGV Tipper lorry at the Oval, Kennington at just after 08:30 on Monday 29th June 2009.

I can see there are some blogs on this site. If anyone actually witnessed the collision or events leading up to the collision can they please contact Met. Police, Hampton Collision Investigation Unit on 0208 941 9011.

Thank you.
http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewt...49300#15449300

I want to contact the Mayor too after reading about some of the most recent horrific and tragic bike accidents. If anyone here has has written to the Mayor before - what points did you raise? I'll send something to my local MP / council as well.

Youngie, don't want to continue to chastise you any further, but please read back carefully through the threads, the partner of the driver is / was on here and so talk of punishment for the driver is not really appropriate. The facts are not known and so we should'nt judge.

My name is Anish Patel and I am the husband of Catriona . On Monday 29th June at around 08.20, Catriona died as a result of a collision with a green Tipper lorry at Kennington Park Road, at the junction with Harleyford Street. I would like to make a personal appeal for anyone who was in the Oval area that morning , who saw Catriona or the tipper, to come forward as a potential witness. Even if you did not see the incident directly, you may still have useful information on the lead up to, or aftermath of the incident. So, please, I urge you to come forward. Any information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, may be crucial to the case. I and the entire family would like to understand what happened on that day and you may have seen something that is relevant. Please contact the Collision Investigation Unit Witness Line on 020 8941 9011 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 if you have any information. Many thanks, Anish.

May I extend my condolences to you Anish, my thoughts are with you. I was nowhere near but I hope you do discover some witnesses of this tragedy. Please feel free to let us know how you're getting on, or just post your thoughts for some moral support.

RIP Catriona.

Deepest sympathy Mr Patel. I hope you get your witnesses. i really do

I can only echo what he said. I'm sorry for your loss Mr Patel, and hope you get those witnesses.

Julie - Thank you for posting. poor coverage and assumptions make villians of those who are involved in an accident, this is a terrible thing to have on yours and your partners mind. Please take the comments on here as venting, many in-experienced cyclists feel fear when riding and this often comes out in frustration and anger. when someone dies on the road this fear and anger bubbles over.
But you are right - this is an all to common accident and if it is to go away lorry drivers and cyclists should work together to force better equiped lorries and better prepared cyclists.
Kind regards
Pip