Incident near Oval Tube this morning

[Origamist]

sorry yes you have and I probably wasn't clear, I meant from the 'ho-hum' just another stat angle. I particularly meant the line:-

It’s worth noting in most years since 1999 no more than nine London cyclists have been killed by collisions with lorries.

I see that as an oh my God type headline, it just came across rather dismissivley, as if those were 'good' years. I haven't visited the source web site etc but am sure they do a good job. But this quote, in this article, came across in the wrong way to me.

Oh, I see. I suspect the quote from Bill C was simply lifted from the Moving Target website out of context (a lot of the other quotes in article were cut and paste jobs) or he was misquoted.

He's been campaigning on the issue for years and anyone interested in the subject would do well to read his pieces at:
www.movingtargetzine.com

It's probably worth mentioning that more pedestrians are killed by HGVs than cyclists in London

 

[MacB]

Oh, I see. I suspect the quote from Bill C was simply lifted from the Moving Target website out of context (a lot of the other quotes in article were cut and paste jobs) or he was misquoted.

He's been campaigning on the issue for years and anyone interested in the subject would do well to read his pieces at:
www.movingtargetzine.com

It's probably worth mentioning that more pedestrians are killed by HGVs than cyclists in London

yep, had a look at the website and the quote doesn't do it justice at all. Just the idea that, what I consider a catastrophic death tally, can be referred to as 'no more than', hit a bum note with me.

someone, might have been Dell, made a really good point about building works not having to extend their plans to co-ordinating their HGV traffic.

 

[Buffalo Bill]

yep, had a look at the website and the quote doesn't do it justice at all. Just the idea that, what I consider a catastrophic death tally, can be referred to as 'no more than', hit a bum note with me.

I totally agree that the death tally is catastrophic. I wasn't all that happy with the quote, and I wasn't at all happy to have Moving Target, which has a lot more on it than just 'cycle safety' articles, reduced to the level of the London Cycling Campaign.

Having met numerous victims' families, I can assure you that the dead cyclists are not just numbers to me, but numbers get journalists excited - look at the what a fuss the 85% thing caused.

 

[MacB]

I totally agree that the death tally is catastrophic. I wasn't all that happy with the quote, and I wasn't at all happy to have Moving Target, which has a lot more on it than just 'cycle safety' articles, reduced to the level of the London Cycling Campaign.

Having met numerous victims' families, I can assure you that the dead cyclists are not just numbers to me, but numbers get journalists excited - look at the what a fuss the 85% thing caused.

Yep, I should know better than to take any article at face value and really should know better than to voice my reaction without doing my homework.

 

[Origamist]

A further appeal for witnesses:


"My name is Anish Patel and I am the husband of Catriona [Cockburn]. 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."

 

[diamondwhite]

I would like to offer my sincere condolences to you Anish and your family at what is a difficult time.

 

[jonny jeez]

Actually I think this is a good place to discuss it. Ok we don't know the full details of this unfortunate incident, but if this discussion makes just one person think a little more carefully about how they cycle around HGVs etc then at least something positive has come of her death.

It's certainly done that for me. I pass Kennington and the oval most mornings and even thanksed a lorry on Friday for waiting whilst a bunch of us Cyclist moved off from the lights...now I think about it, we all had no business being in that position in the first place...never gonna slip up the side of big vehicles again.

this is the perfect place for this discussion. Just wonder How often I put myself in the same position.

 

[jonny jeez]

A further appeal for witnesses:


"My name is Anish Patel and I am the husband of Catriona [Cockburn]. 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."

Very sad, thoughts go out to all those related

 

[Origamist]

Lorry driver to stand trial for cyclist's death after prosecutors reject guilty plea

http://road.cc/content/news/17523-l...ts-death-after-prosecutors-reject-guilty-plea

And:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...man-cyclist-phone-drinking.html#ixzz0o1jlF1wT

 

[Keith Oates]

It won't be much help to her husband and family but I hope the driver gets a very long (life time) ban!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[CopperBrompton]

It's pleasing that the CPS is taking such a tough line on it - usually you'd expect them to be content with the guilty plea to the lesser charge. I suspect they are very confident they can prove he was over the drink-drive limit, which would make it a 'higher culpability' case.

That should mean a gaol sentence of between two and five years:
http://www.sentencing-guidelines.gov.uk/docs/dangerousdriving.pdf

 

[dondare]

After having paid due respects, the important thing that you have to realize is that although these accidents occur and get reported with horrifying frequency they are nevertheless relatively uncommon considering the number of cyclists in London.
Lorries are especially dangerous compared to other vehicles for a number of reasons; but they are more dangerous to everyone, not just cyclists. Not so long ago one knocked over a bus, seriously injuring several passengers and the driver. On motorways they wipe out whole families. All manner of street furniture gets demolished, some well up on the pavement.
The view from a cab is very poor and lorry drivers can't see a lot of the road, don't know who or what else is beside or behind them and in any case can't predict where their wheels are going to go during any kind of manoevre. So when cycling the best thing is for you to know where they are and take account of where they might be going. Look behind you when approaching junctions. Don't listen to music. Don't use cycle lanes or ASLs if they place you in one of the driver's many blind-spots, (which they will). Don't cycle near a pedestrian railing if there are lorries anywhere close by. Even change your route to avoid roads used a lot by construction traffic or any particularly stupid road lay-outs.
I do not believe that the cyclists who have been killed are always guilty of "undertaking" nor do I believe that jumping the lights is the best way of becoming the victim of a left hook.
Road deaths of all types are much rarer than fatal heart attacks (which regular, moderate exercise protects you against). It is the case that cycling is much more likely to add years to your life rather than be the death of you. On balance, cycling is a great deal safer than not cycling.

 

[hackbike 666]

Really made everybody slow down and give each other more space.

More like rubbernecking.

Christ I just read the report...Bloody awful...Exactly what I always think...You just don't know what you are up against out there sometimes.

R.I.P

 

[Crankarm]

So the scumbag Putz could hopefully be facing a drink driving charge as well. A potentially drunk driver, on the phone and driving dangerously - a lethal combination as the results show.

 

[mr_cellophane]

What is also shocking is that he is allowed to drive around for 18 months between incident and trial.