London Cycling Deaths Up Again

[mike killay]

When I was recently in Ypres, Belgium, all the roundabouts had a red strip around the outside like the outer ring on an archery target. It was about 3 foot wide, for cyclists and had priority. It was quite a strange experience to ride around this and have a huge articulated lorry that wished to exit before you come to a shuddering stop to accord you precedence.
Seeing how well pedestrian crossings are respected in this country, I do not see why we could not do the same thing here.
I noticed that at traffic light crossroads, cyclists did not take up a left turning position in the middle of the road (reversed vis a vis the UK), but stayed on the inside, crossed the other road until they reached the head of the crossing cycle lane where they waited for the lights to change back. That way, they were always on the nearside

 

[flecc]

That would be good, but in so much of the UK there just isn't the space, especially not in urban areas.

The other big problem is the lack of cyclists. I've some roundabouts in my area that are plenty big enough for that, but one could wait hours before seeing one cyclist. That leads to cycling facilities being ignored by drivers after a while. Two examples in my area are the cyclist only zones at the head of traffic queues at lights, and marked cycle lanes on routes that almost never see a cyclist. It's inevitable that drivers will use that space for their own benefit after never seeing cyclists day after day.

 

[Mussels]

I think if I was a regular commuter and was experiencing problems with 'professional' drivers, I would have a GoPro to capture the ride and when a 'pro' driver is inconsiderate then diligently report them (assuming they all have numbers on the back of the vehicle) using the footage to read the numbers and possibly capture the incident!

I wonder if companies take any notice of drivers reported for poor driving standards?

I reported an RAC driver some time ago for almost running someone over on a zebra crossing, they certainly seemed to care and took the trouble to tell me my report had been sent to the drivers boss.

Seeing how well pedestrian crossings are respected in this country, I do not see why we could not do the same thing here.

I used to think that until I started using them properly when taking my kids to school, drivers frequently plough through zebra and pelican crossings desite small children being in the road.

 

[hannibal]

Yet another London cyclist death a couple of days ago, once again a young woman, once again at a junction, yet again a lorry involved. Although the 29 year old lorry driver was arrested on suspicion of causing death by careless driving, that's pretty much routine these days when death occurs and doesn't mean anything at this stage.

London cyclist death roll now: 2009 = 13 ; 2010 = 10 ; 2011 to date = 15

As mentioned with the reasons at the start of this thread, the great majority of the deaths are female.
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I did some work on this when I was seconded to TfL. The stats showed that it was the relatively new cyclists that were being killed and injured, although there is international evidence that if there are more people cycling, it makea it safer overall (i.e. per cycle trip). I pointed out that encouraging new cyclists was in fact encouraging them to sacrifice themselves in order to make it safer for them more experienced cyclists. This did not go down well, as you might imagine. It is much safer to take the bus.

 

[Blew it]

Blimey!

"...... I pointed out that encouraging new cyclists was in fact encouraging them to sacrifice themselves in order to make it safer for the more experienced cyclists...."


A chilling observation, but sadly, a very accurate assessment. How strange is it, in a country where at one time thousands of people cycled to work every day, they are now seen as sacrificial pioneers.

 

[flecc]

I did some work on this when I was seconded to TfL. The stats showed that it was the relatively new cyclists that were being killed and injured, although there is international evidence that if there are more people cycling, it makea it safer overall (i.e. per cycle trip). I pointed out that encouraging new cyclists was in fact encouraging them to sacrifice themselves in order to make it safer for them more experienced cyclists. This did not go down well, as you might imagine. It is much safer to take the bus.

Yes, I remember when that was pointed out, despite your observation not being well received, it did leak out to the media at the time.

Still, if cycling is to be expanded a start has to made somewhere, and progress invariably carries a cost of some kind. As horrible as these deaths are, even 15 is a low number compared with the many millions of cycle trips undertaken in London annually now.

 

[daudi]

Did the analysis look at all cause mortality? Conditions are possibly saferin Denmark, but a study there has shown that in the long run it is still better to cycle: All-cause mortality associated with physical... [Arch Intern Med. 2000] - PubMed - NCBI

 

[flecc]

There hasn't been a specifically London all-cause mortality study that I know of. National figures do show cycling to be safe compared with many other activities though.

 

[lectureral]

The Times has this today "Candlelit protest for dead cyclists at London’s ‘killer’ junction"

a brief excerpt - since the article is paywalled:

One of London’s most dangerous road junctions became the scene for a mass candlelit protest last night, as about 200 people gathered outside King’s Cross station for a minute’s silence for those killed on their bicycles on the capital’s streets.
Just yards from a white “ghost bike”, tied to a lamppost and covered in flowers at the spot where 24-year-old fashion student Deep Lee was killed by a lorry on October 3, her fiancé Kenji Hirasawa was among the crowd paying their respects to the 16 cyclists who have died on London roads so far in 2011; six more than were killed last year.
Mike Cavenett, a spokesman for the London Cycling Campaign which organised the vigil, said: “You are twice as likely to die on a bike in London as you are in Amsterdam. Some 48 cyclists have died in London since the Mayor came to power, and we want to highlight this difference.”
Those killed on their bikes in London this year so far are: Gary Mason, 48, Daniel Cox, 28, Tom Barrett, 44, David Poblet, 20, Paula Jurek, 20, Gavin Taylor, 40, Naoko, 34, Thomas Stone, 13, Michael Evans, 62, Paul McGreal, 44, Johannah Bailey, 49, Sam Harding, 25, Min Joo “Deep” Lee, 24, Brian Dorling, 58, Svetlana Tereschenko, 34, and 22-year-old Ellie Carey.

 

[Mussels]

More blokes than I expected in that list, I've never heard of kings cross being particularly deadly.