2010-03-24 - Rider Down/Fatality, A338

very tragic this. my thoughts go out to those touched by the tragedy.

although many report over bad state of road surfaces all over, i found the last month had been very positive for the roads on my route to work. not just filled in potholes, but plenty resurfaced roads.

i hope telco/energy companies don't dig their arteries up right away.

Skeptic - End of the financial year so have to spend any emergency monies or the council don't get it next year.

Am so sad that a persons life has ended for something so trivial.

poor guy. thoughts go out to his fiancee and family.

ok someone explain to me how, within 36 hours of the cyclist getting killed, the council fill the pothole. Surely this is an accident scene (possibly a crime scene) and the hole is evidence?

ok someone explain to me how, within 36 hours of the cyclist getting killed, the council fill the pothole. Surely this is an accident scene (possibly a crime scene) and the hole is evidence?

It's likely that within about four hours the accident investigation team will have broadly surveyed and recorded all of the aspects of the scene of the crime. Once the road has been reopened then, like any crime scene, it ceases to be sterile and reliable. If the council weren't derelict in their duty of care prior to the incident, failing to remedy a matter within their remit that has potential contributed to a fatality would have done.

It's a double unbroken white line, so hypothetically, if the cyclist had been riding at a sensible distance from the kerb, the lorry wouldn't have been able to pass legally, and should've been waiting behind until the road markings changed?

I don't think this is all about the pothole, do you?

RIP

Agree. it has more to do with the war

I wouldn't get too caught up in the icelandic bank saga, local governments made as much money on investments as they did from tax robbed from our already bleeding pockets. actually made financial sense. the only downside is they got greedy with the rest of the fools and got found out.
of course we will now have to pay the short fall

RiP. another massive waste of a life

it's the blatent cynicism of filling dangerous patches so soon after accident that embitters me.
Just look at the bleak run as you passed the building site on St Thomas street into the tunnel at the end of Bermondsey Street leading onto Tooley Street. Soon soon after the tragic death of the Med student the street was relaid. Again until a council worker/minister or a child of gets it, this will not be taken seriously.

I spoke to a friend, Oly yesterday who happened to witness the horrific scene where the professor had passed on Tower Bridge Road recently. He cried for days. I'm still disturbed.

RIP

It often happens after crashes, e.g. after Lucinda Ferrier's death in Stamford Hill, the street was quickly resurfaced, too. I think the reason why it strikes a nerve is because it is so close to a metaphorical 'sweeping under the carpet' or 'putting a lid on it' or some such image, when in reality it's probably nothing less prosaic than that the highway authority quickly prioritise work at this location because a risk that wasn't realised before has been tragically demonstrated. It's shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.

it's the blatent cynicism of filling dangerous patches so soon after accident that embitters me.
Just look at the bleak run as you passed the building site on St Thomas street into the tunnel at the end of Bermondsey Street leading onto Tooley Street. Soon soon after the tragic death of the Med student the street was relaid. Again until a council worker/minister or a child of gets it, this will not be taken seriously.

Which street? Do you mean the Snowsfield/Weston Street junction where it happened?

I spoke to a friend, Oly yesterday who happened to witness the horrific scene where the professor had passed on Tower Bridge Road recently. He cried for days. I'm still disturbed.
That is so awful. I'm glad that I've never had to witness anything like this. We can talk about these deaths here forever, but we will fail to realise the full horror unless we see the reality of it. The worst injury I've ever witnessed is someone breaking his leg in a basketball match, which I still remember and don't like thinking about. Is your friend getting counselling support?

Tragic news for all involved.

But it really annoys me how the media reports it (the man survived the war but not the pothole). The "potholes disaster" is the annoying current media drama.

BMMF made a good point about the double lines.

Finally someone noticed ;)

Yes BMMF you made a very good point.

I remember riding on an A road in Suffolk with Jaygee and being constantly overtaken by lorries for about 15k. Even though they gave us space we felt blown away each time. It was pretty unnerving. Looking at the pic of the road reminded me of that adventure. And it was a constant flow of lorries (and there was a dead animal every 50 metres or so, terrible).

I misread this earlier--I thought he'd fallen under an oncoming lorry.

If you're driving in the sticks somewhere, and have the audacity to adhere to the rules and calmly wait behind cyclists/tractor/horses where there's an unbroken line, some people start to go mental in the queue behind you. A bit like the cabbie who went mental because I took primary position and stopped at a zebra crossing because I'd noticed a woman in a wheelchair nervously waiting to cross for ages.. but that's another story.

There is a reason for those lines: unfinished verges and ditches; residential entrances/exits; hidden dips on undulating long straight roads; blah blah blah. The list is endless. But the unbroken lines, conversely, aren't. So people should relax and wait, and stop being such impatient pricks.

BMMF made a good point about the double lines.

I'm not entirely sure he has although I'm still checking into it. It think there is an allowance on white lines for slower moving vehicles that permits overtaking. Slower moving vehicles including farm vehicles, horses and bicycles among others.

^interested to see the outcome, though I still think even if what you're suggesting is true, it's a different story on wet roads at night, or at least common sense says it should be.

From somewhere else quoting the highway code:

"Double white lines where the line nearest you is solid. This means you MUST NOT cross or straddle it unless it is safe and you need to enter adjoining premises or a side road. You may cross the line if necessary to pass a stationary vehicle, or overtake a pedal cycle, horse or road maintenance vehicle, if they are travelling at 10mph or less."

^so in the first instance, you'd have to slow right down and proceed behind the slower vehicle in order to ascertain its speed. Doubt that happened*.

*speculation, yes

It could well be that the main contributing cause may have been that the lorry may simply have been too close to the rider as he started his overtaking manoeuvre, but it's all speculation, as in all such cases before the full story is known.

R.I.P.

I agree with Festus though, that it seems more than suspicious that potholes that cause accidents are filled in almost immediately, as if by the midnight pixies. The pothole that threw me off my bike near Harrods, was filled in even before I went back to it, less than 48hrs later. I wondered if police report these to the councils, and then they act?

And the media is only speculating on the pothole.

Some of the news headlines:
"Hero Army Captain Killed by Huge Pothole" / "Soldier who battled Taliban dies due to pothole" /
"Are potholes risking lives?"

It's a double unbroken white line, so hypothetically, if the cyclist had been riding at a sensible distance from the kerb, the lorry wouldn't have been able to pass legally, and should've been waiting behind until the road markings changed?

I don't think this is all about the pothole, do you?

RIP

All our (IoM) roads are like this , with no national speed limit. Cars always overtake on the dbl whites.

RIP.

R.I.P.

I agree with Festus though, that it seems more than suspicious that potholes that cause accidents are filled in almost immediately, as if by the midnight pixies. The pothole that threw me off my bike near Harrods, was filled in even before I went back to it, less than 48hrs later. I wondered if police report these to the councils, and then they act?

The thing with repairing potholes is that the authorities need to know about them in the first place. How many people here can put their hand up to reporting a pothole? I certainly can't.

Very sad. RIP!

I'm not entirely sure he has although I'm still checking into it. It think there is an allowance on white lines for slower moving vehicles that permits overtaking. Slower moving vehicles including farm vehicles, horses and bicycles among others.

Slower moving vehicles are those moving at less than 10mph by law. Many cyclists are a bit faster than this and cannot be overtaken legally. Some drivers still chance it though.

^yes, post 43 :/

The thing with repairing potholes is that the authorities need to know about them in the first place. How many people here can put their hand up to reporting a pothole? I certainly can't.

Very sad. RIP!

I report potholes to www.fillthathole.org.uk. Anyone can do this from their own computer.