Not getting any better out there on the roads

[oriteroom]

FOURTH FATAL CYCLIST ACCIDENT IN LONDON IN SEVEN WEEKS

A cyclist killed in a collision with a tipper lorry in central London was a French-born mother-of-two, Claire Hitier-Abadie, 36. She died in an accident with a lorry at a busy junction in Victoria during yesterday morning's rush-hour. It was the fourth cyclist death in London so far this year, with lorries being involved in all of them.

Stephanie Turner, 29, was killed in an accident with a lorry in Stamford Hill, north London on January 20.

Almost a fortnight later, on February 2, music producer and sound engineer Akis Kollaros, 34, died in a collision with a lorry in Homerton, east London.

Four days after his death, 26-year-old fashion designer Federica Baldassa was killed in London's Bloomsbury square following an accident with a lorry.

The spate of deaths so far this year is already above the average number nationally - a normal January would see 9.8 cyclist deaths across the country.

Nationwide there have been 13 deaths in the first weeks of 2015.

The total London cyclist death figure for 2013 was 14.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2961905/Cyclist-killed-tipper-truck-central-London-mother-two-wife-energy-firm-executive.html#ixzz3SKXQ4PpC
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[flecc]

And as I so often point out, the majority were as usual women, three out of four this time, despite women commuters being very much the minority. Ther's no official figure for the ratio of female cyclists, but from my London observations I'd say they are less than a quarter of the total while making up more than half the deaths each year. That makes them at least eight times more likely to be killed than men. It's for this reason that I say the concentration on truck safety only is a mistake, clearly these cycists should get their act in order which could slash the death rate

Why so many women are not getting the much publicised message to avoid the nearside of trucks I don't know, but they are virtually committing suicide as things stand.
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[RobF]

Why so many women are not getting the much publicised message to avoid the nearside of trucks I don't know, but they are virtually committing suicide as things stand.

This sounds harsh, but I read a witness statement from a cyclist who was behind the most fatality in Victoria.

Taken at face value, which I think you can in this case, the guy said the truck was indicating left and he heard its audible warning bleeper.

Despite this, the cyclist trundled up the nearside, in what could be described as an almost suicidal manoeuvre.

Post by Steve Hunter, not numbered, but it's about the tenth on page one of this thread:

http://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=94319#wrap

 

[flecc]

True Rob, and long ago I watched in disbelief a video of another case where a woman cycled rapidly past a huge left flashing indicator on a truck waiting to turn left just as it was setting off. She was crushed to death, the truck driver having no chance of seeing her in time.

There clearly needs to be a well targeted campaign about this, we cannot continue on a PC pretence of gender equality in this respect while it takes so many lives.
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[RobF]

True Rob, and long ago I watched in disbelief a video of another case where a woman cycled rapidly past a huge left flashing indicator on a truck waiting to turn left just as it was setting off. She was crushed to death, the truck driver having no chance of seeing her in time.

There clearly needs to be a well targeted campaign about this, we cannot continue on a PC pretence of gender equality in this respect while it takes so many lives.
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Part of the problem is if you made your suggestion on a general cycling forum you would get a volley of posts bellowing 'victim blaming'.

Not to mention those who wouldn't like your entirely reasonable observation about the larger proportion of women who have been involved in the fatalities.

 

[flecc]

I know Rob, it has to be initiated by the politicians, but unfortunately they are too scared of saying anything that might be construed as discrimination. So they let the deaths continue rather than do anything

I'm not so scared and I don't want to see so many women continuing to lose their lives unnecessarily in this way. Men and women are not equal, they are different as these accident facts show only too clearly. That isn't to say that one is better than another, each have their own superior strengths, individually and collectively by gender.
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