Boris nearly crushed

[Origamist]

the back gate of the truck simply wasn't secure. That could easily have killed somebody. Had the other door swung open we would have been one Mayor short.

I'm just hoping that this isn't their idea of a bike route. It looks like a really skanky road.

It could also have taken out: Peter Hendy, the commissioner for Transport for London, Kulveer Ranger, Johnson's director of transport, and transport minister Lord Andrew Adonis...

If the LCN is anything to go by, that road looks like prime Super Highway material...

Is this the wake-up call BJ needed, or is it more hot air?

Bojo:

"I am relieved that no one was hurt, but this incident reinforces the need for us to make London's roads safer for cyclists, which I am determined to do and to make London the best city for cyclists in Europe."

 

[cheadle hulme]

Love how the lorry driver immediately attaends to the door, before checking anyone was hurt...

Exactly, he's just pulled a parked car across a road after overtaking 4 people and the first thing he does is check his load.

 

[Crankarm]

I hope this truck driver loses his license, job and the truck is crushed. It could have been so much worse in all respects. What if there had been people inside the car that was dragged along or, as has already been stated, that Boris or any of the other cyclists or any pedestrians had been struck? Good example though for the politicians and Mayor of how vulnerable cyclists are and how dangerous many truck drivers are.

 

[purplepolly]

Exactly, he's just pulled a parked car across a road after overtaking 4 people and the first thing he does is check his load.

and seconds after checking the load he's in the cab moving the lorry - no way was there time for him to check properly that no-one had been dragged under the vehicle

 

[lech]

LiveLeak.com - Raw: Truck Nearly Crushes Cycling London Mayor in ‘Near-Death Experience’

I count 6 cyclists. The lorry driver chooses to overtake them:

1/

On a corner

2/

By a speed bump

3/

Just exactly opposite a parked car. You can tell exactly how close he is to the parked car from the way his swinging door catches it.

It it wasn't Boris it wouldn't be news, just another idiot London lorry driver

 

[Keith Oates]

It just goes to show how anyone on any road can be injured or killed very easily. I think to say that if Boris wasn't there it would not have made the news is correct, but he was there, it did make the news and I'm sure he and the rest of the party he was with will learn from the experience. Perhaps the publicity the incident has received will in some way help others in the future.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Arch]

I notice it says:

"But anyone who watches CCTV footage of the mayor's last outing on his own bicycle is likely to be put off for life."

I wonder if they also reckon it would put people off sitting in parked cars - I sure as hell wouldn't have liked to be the ones that got clonked...

But no, we have to be put off cycling first...

Horrendous though - that could give you nightmares for weeks, just thinking 'what if?'...

 

[hackbike 666]

Sums up driving on Britains roads today.

Couldn't care less attitude.

 

[smavter]

as if london will ever be the best city in europe for cyclists

 

[Sittingduck]

I led a CC ride from Robin Hood to Roehampton Hill along the A3. Lesson learnt!

That was one of the more pictureqsue sections of the route CoG... I remember the pinnacle being a coffee & cake stop in Staines!

Back on topic: I was glad to see the urgency and speed at which Mr Truck driver strolled out of his cab to go and check for injured cyclists Shame he didn't check the doors were shut properly and drive at a sensibe speed for the situation...

 

[yello]

It looks like a ludicrous place to attempt an overtake to me. I'm pleased nobody was hurt but I do hope that clips gets good national/local coverage just to show people what dangers cyclists face. Because whilst the outcome was freakish, that type of overtake is not ime; big lorry at speed, terrifying.

 

[asterix]

Plenty of skip lorries are driven as carelessly as that.

 

[thomas]

It looks like a ludicrous place to attempt an overtake to me. I'm pleased nobody was hurt but I do hope that clips gets good national/local coverage just to show people what dangers cyclists face. Because whilst the outcome was freakish, that type of overtake is not ime; big lorry at speed, terrifying.

It was on BBC news last night...but it wasn't highlighting risks to cyclists. I think that the press is showing it more as a freak accident (the door coming open), rather than the driver being to blame - though tbh, I wasn't really paying attention to the news.

 

[ComedyPilot]

He almost got hit and it makes the headlines. Lots of people get KILLED that way and don't get a mention.

 

[handsome joe]

I use this road on my commute sometimes. I now hope Boris understands the risks Cyclists have to deal with on London's Roads. If he could only dip into his budget and finally build a Cyclists infrastructure that Europe and the World would be proud of. We used to be good at these things. I remember being told by an Indian man in India about the great engineering prowess of Great Britain and how proud he was of his county's railways etc.