Cyclist down- Holloway Road again.

[PrettyboyTim]

Here's the junction:

The purple lines show the route cyclists take crossing the road. The green brackets show where the lights are that direct them across.

The red lines show the stop lines for vehicles along Holloway Road, and the red brackets show the positions of the lights. There's a pedestrian crossing on the one at the bottom of the picture.

The problem with the junction is that for vehicles travelling north there's no second set of lights facing in their direction, so if they've stopped just after the pedestrian crossing and then the lights turn red, there's no indication that they should stop to let cyclists (who now have the green) cross. It's not so bad in the other direction as there are lights to make sure drivers stop for the pedestrian crossing.

Ideally the whole junction would be covered in yellow crosshatching to prevent it getting filled by stationary traffic but as you can see there's only a small patch. It can be tricky sometimes because if the junction is full your view may be obscured as you come to cross the second lane, and your presence may not be evident to vehicles travelling in that lane.

 

[PrettyboyTim]

Another tribute to her. Her name was Lisa Pontecorvo.

 

[catwoman]

I can only amplify what people are saying in the tributes to Lisa. I work for the council and came across her through work. She was well known to the planners and as I worked locally to where she lived I also got to know her through her active campaigns about various environmental issues.
I'm really shocked and saddened about her death and can only say the place will not be the same without her. very sad news.

 

[spindrift]

Oh no, that link above is terribly sad.

http://bridgetfox.wordpress.com/2008/09/09/lisa-pontecorvo-a-sad-loss/

 

[CotterPin]

Just to let you know a short vigil is planned for 5.35 this Monday (a week after the incident). See details below. If any would like to attend, feel free to do so.

Stephen

Hello Folks,

ICAG has arranged a simple memorial to Lisa Ponticorvo, the cyclist who was
tragically killed on Holloway Road on Monday afternoon 8th September, about
which there have been earlier posts on this list.

You are invited to meet on the corner of Fieldway Crescent and Holloway Road
outside the Central Library on Monday 15th September from 5.15pm. Flowers
will be placed and we plan to hold a minutes silence in memory of Lisa at
5.35pm, exactly one week after the fatal crash.

All are welcome, not just ICAG members and other cyclists. The local press
have been informed. Please pass this invitation on. Thank you.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

very sad. Does anyone know how it actually happened?

 

[CotterPin]

very sad. Does anyone know how it actually happened?

This has been posted on the ICAG email list from a report from an eye witness:

Further to your comments, I asked the local shopkeeper what had happened. He said the cyclist had been travelling down Holloway Road from Highbury Corner, bus lane side of the road. The traffic had stopped, backed up from the lights at Drayton Park and she wanted to enter Fieldway Crescent. She crossed in front of the cement mixer and halted at the centre of the road as traffic was flowing on the southern lane. The northbound traffic began to move but she couldn't enter Fieldway Crescent because traffic was still flowing normally in the southwards direction. Somehow, she and her bike became caught up in the lorry as it began to move, the driver having no idea that she was anywhere near his vehicle because he could not have seen her from his position in his cab.


I have to that I regard such an attempt to enter Fieldway Crescent as very dangerous. If we are coming along Holloway Road in a northerly direction, we always swing into the cycle lane in Madras Place and wait for the lights to change. Mostly, that's fine but even then at busy times of day there are sometimes cars moving slowly along Holloway Road while the lights are against them, could they but see the lights. It is a very long junction and there is only one northbound light, at the stop position, and nothing on the far side of the junction to show the lights have changed. If vehicles have passed the one light at green or orange they think they are justified in continuing regardless of the control system. It's dangerous and altercations occur on occasion. There's a very short green period for cyclists to cross over Holloway Road and cars can sometimes be a block to achieving a crossing despite the yellow grid on the road.


I hope this fatality will inspire changes on Holloway Road and at the Fieldway Crescent/Horsell Road junction.

 

[spindrift]

I heard a copper waved on the lorry?

 

[LLB]

This has been posted on the ICAG email list from a report from an eye witness:

It is a shame that poor road planning only seems to be rectified after such tragedy's occur