Cyclist Killed in Holborn

coley

Active Member
Alot of you in london would probably know of this. At 08:30 yesterday a female cyclist was crushed under the wheels of an articulated lorry turning left into Southampton row.

Reason I mention this is on two accounts. First off it was my mate who was delivering to Hummous Brothers who saw the whole thing and was screaming at the prat in the lorry to stop as he didnt realise he just killed someone.

Secondly this morning driving into central london I had a HGV slam his brakes on in front of me after he cut me up at a round about and I blasted him.

Ultimately people are people and you cant categorise people by the said vehicle of choice (ie all cyclists are this and all van drivers are that) but there is an inreasing trend in rude retarded uneducated wxxkers whose "im bigger than you so bollox to ya" mentallity is making driving and cycling in and around london very dangerous.

They always seem to blame the cyclist but my recent experiences would leave me to speculate that in this case Mr Thicko didnt indicate. Surely driving such a large vehicle requires a certain level of skill, judgment and awareness of surroundings. Maybe its time to up the ante to drive these vehicles and ensure only people with a good level of intelligence and character get the nod to drive them.

Ive had more negative experiences with idiots driving trucks than I have with cyclists and Ive been driving on Londons roads on a full time basis on and off for the best part of the last 13 years.

RIP to the young woman who lost her life and good luck to my work mate who is struggling to cope with the gory image of another person being crushed to death.
 
Totally appreciate your point coley and agree wholeheartedly with what you say, what a horrible way to go for the poor woman, who I beleive was only 31? At the end of the day someone has lost a daughter/mother/sister. A tragic loss.

Saying that, when I used to work on Rosebery Avenue down from The Angel (for those who don't know it is a long straight gradual descent all the way down to the junction of Amwell Street) On an almost daily basis I would have to dodge frigging cyclists who had no concept of how a Zebra crossing worked, had a couple of rucks as well over the 3 years I worked there. Whats the point of this? I dunno maybe to point out that there are tossrags on all modes of transport in London!!

RIP
 
driving standards and the reactions that follow are seriously going downhill.

from w@nkers who sit in the middle lane who take 5 miles to "overtake" for starters, people in the inside lanes on motorways who pootle along doing sub 50mph, thus causing lorry drivers to use the middle lane to overtake, when all said numpty has to do is increase their speed by a fraction, so Mr Lorry doesnt have to overtake.

that said, Mr 56mph limited Lorry drivers also incur my wrath for over taking on long uphill stretches of road.

as do mr stick to the outside lane and up yr arse.

its amazing how when the 3rd lane is removed and you go back down to a dual carraigeway that people all of a sudden start to drive properly!

plus on the way in today, i was at a junction, and as you do check yr mirrors, and there were an 17/18 yr old couple smoking a ****ing spliff behind the wheel!

doomed.
 
A colleague in our Birmingham Office had an accident on her bike and is now in hospital :cry:

Not totally sure what happened but very sad. Apparantly she has no family to support her either as I heard one of our directors saying that we should be offering her support as she has nobody else.
 
there we trials (i believe)on the M42 recently where HGV's couldn't leave the inside lane, dunno if anything ever came of them?
 
How awful that poor woman and her family!!!

I feel for your friend for having to witness that - that's not something you would be able to forget about in a long while.....:?:?:?:?
 
Jeez, that sounds like a horrible incident. I feel really sorry for your friend who witnessed it. Nobody should have to witness something like that.

Anyway, this thread is particularly close to my heart. I've actually been into cycling for over 20 years, and went through a 5 year period where I was cycling over 300 miles a week and racing to a reasonable standard. I don't race anymore, but I still cycle approx 100 miles per week (apart from the week in Ibiza, obviously).

During this time, I've had one friend killed and another seriously injured in cycling incidents and both of them really shook me up.

The first one was particularly bad. I used to work in Edinburgh, and would occasionally cycle into work. Through cycling, I got friendly with a guy in another department who used to cycle to work every day. On the day's I cycled in, we used to go out on the bikes together at lunchtime, and I got to know him quite well over about 3 years.

Anyway, one day he was cycling home, and an idiot workman driving a low-loader Ford Transit decided to try and give him a scare. The driver admitted in court that he was trying to give him a fright by passing really close to him. Unfortunately, the van was doing 70mph and had large 'sticky-out' wing mirrors, one of which smashed my friend in the back of the head. Although he was wearing a helmet, it basically ripped the back of his skull clean off and killed him instantly.
I was waiting on him the following day at lunchtime, ready to go out on a cycle ride when somebody came up and told me this! Now, I've heard the phrase 'my knees went', but on this instance they actually did. I couldn't stand for over 20 minutes. It's a wierd thing to try and explain, but if you've been there you'll know what I'm talking about. Pure undiluted shock!!

So, a 30 year old woman was now a widow, and a 2 year old boy and a 4 year old girl were left father-less.
And what did the driver get? 2 years for dangerous driving. By the way, that was 6 years ago, so he's now been free for 4 years.

Now, I'm a huge fan of Top Gear, and I really like Jeremy Clarkson but sometimes he just goes too far. One episode Geri Halliwell was on and she mentioned an incident where she'd pulled out in front of a cyclist and he'd smashed into her car. Clarksons response was "that's alright though, cyclists are soft and squishy, they wont damage your car".

In another insatnce, a columnist for the Scotsman was having a rant about cyclists and said: "what's with all the ridiculously bright luminous clothing that they wear? Although, I suppose it's makes it easier to see them when you want to run them over in your 4x4".

Aye, f:!::!:king hilarious!

When I'm out on an average 40 mile cycle run I may get passed by over 2000 vehicles. All it takes is for 1 of these to have read an anti-cycling column that day, or to be in a bad mood, and before you know it I've got half my brain splattered all over the highway.

Anyway, sorry to bring the mood down. I never thought I'd be having a cycling rant on an Ibiza forum, but there you go!

www.flickr.com/photos/30454354@N06/sets/72157607269278221/
 
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I've heard the phrase 'my knees went', but on this instance they actually did. I couldn't stand for over 20 minutes. It's a wierd thing to try and explain, but if you've been there you'll know what I'm talking about. Pure undiluted shock!!

Yep I know that feeling.Not good:(...Also sorry to hear about your mate that fecking tragic stuff man:(:(:(.

I used to be constant smiles and lets ave it up until a few things happened which gave me a new perspective on life. I now understand peoples grief and all that but didn't before.

I once heard that it is only in darkness that we see further. Something that alludes to the suggestion that you if you was stuck at the bottom of a well in pitch black you could look up and see the stars at high noon...:idea:

Don't apologise about talking about this on an Ibiza forum tho. Most of us know how polarised life can be and its places like Ibiza and the people that you meet on life's journey make life worth the effort.:D
 
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......Don't apologise about talking about this on an Ibiza forum tho. Most of us know how polarised life can be and its places like Ibiza and the people that you meet on life's journey make life worth the effort.:D
Well said! We all need a little perspective sometimes and threads like this provide that.:rolleyes:
 
depends if the cyclist was overtaking the hgv on the roundabout or the other way round. a find a lot of cyclists on the road who have no idea about how a lorry requires more space to manouveure and they nearly end up getting themselves knocked off as a result of this.
 
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