Cyclist killed in Streatham yesterday.

[alexb]

Another left turning lorry. If you are prone to high blood pressure, don't read the comments.
http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/topstories/display.var.2197080.0.update_cyclist_dies_after_collision_with_lorry.php

[tiermat]

FFS 4 posts and the RLJ justification crops up!!!

The first 2 posts are relatively balanced, but I got to post 4 and my brain shutdown (I shall resist the obvious jibe about the comment posters and brain shutting down here)

Sad to here

[nuttycyclist]

Can somebody please supply the journalist with a dictionary.

What's a "four-axel" lorry?  And the spelling is consistent throughout.

[Dave]

FFS 4 posts and the RLJ justification crops up!!!

The first 2 posts are relatively balanced, but I got to post 4 and my brain shutdown (I shall resist the obvious jibe about the comment posters and brain shutting down here)

Sad to here

You should read down until you get to the post by 'Sano'; one of the best I've ever read on one of those 'comments' lists.

[delthebike]

What's a "four-axel" lorry?

8 wheels or sets of wheels. 4 driving wheels and 4 steering. Sometimes called an eight legger.

[Dave]

What's a "four-axel" lorry?

8 wheels or sets of wheels. 4 driving wheels and 4 steering. Sometimes called an eight legger.

That's a four-axle lorry. A four-axel one suggests it's got a set of spinning iceskaters on the roof...

[nuttycyclist]

Thanks Dave, glad it wasn't just me thinking of skaters.

[hellymedic]

Thanks Dave, glad it wasn't just me thinking of skaters.

I was thinkinking of Teutonic men...

[Dave]

Thanks Dave, glad it wasn't just me thinking of skaters.

I was thinkinking of Teutonic men...

Or Eddie Murphy.

[Pete]

I get tired of reading these local paper 'comments' columns, even when there are a few decent comments mixed up in all the trash.  The material is highly selective and obviously nowhere near a representative sample of the population: I reckon there are just a few individuals who spend their days googling down cycling-related stories just in order to spew out their venom.

There's a word for that sort of behaviour, isn't there?

Meanwhile there has been yet another tragedy and the world is poorer by the loss of one more cyclist.  When will we stop having to endure these stories? 

[alexb]

Cemex operate out of a depot just behind Queenstown Road. Their aggregate lorries spew crap out all over the junction of Nightingale Lane and Cedars Road and at the other junctions further down where they turn in and out of the depot.
None of their lorries carry any signage to warn cyclists about undertaking and needless to say their drivers are all frustrated rally stars....

I wondered if it would be possible to organise to put a white bike opposite their depot entrance, but I have no idea how to organise it.

[Andrew Br]

Quote from alexb

"Their aggregate lorries spew crap out all over the junction of Nightingale Lane and Cedars Road and at the other junctions further down where they turn in and out of the depot."

That's illegal.
Compaint to the council ?
Or is that being too petty ?

[jane]

I was reminded of 
 this article


in one of last years Moving Targets

 and also

this


Not only do I feel so sad for the family of the man killed in Streatham but also for Cynthia Barlow, whose daughter Alex was also killed eight years ago, by a Cemex lorry and who has put so much time and effort into working to improve the safety of these lorries.
        Jane

[jane]

My apologies as second link in my last post doesn't work but it can be accessed via a link on the first Moving Target article page in the paragraph about Cynthia Barlow and her daughter.
Hope taht makes sense
   Jane
         

[Buffalo Bill]

My apologies as second link in my last post doesn't work but it can be accessed via a link on the first Moving Target article page in the paragraph about Cynthia Barlow and her daughter.
Hope taht makes sense
   Jane
         

Sorry about the broken link!    This is the correct one:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1331_testimonies/page10.shtml

[alexb]

Bill,

Weren't Cemex supposed to be putting special extra measures in place to improve visibility around their lorries?
I see them daily and they don't even have the usual signs on the back to warn you not to slide up the inside.

[andygates]

I wonder if there's an argument for guerilla signage on big lorries?

[Nick H.]

Can anyone tell me where this Cemex depot is? I want to see the looks on the faces of the drivers.

[alexb]

If someone can tell me how to save the location on a Google Map I'd be glad to link to it.

[Buffalo Bill]

Bill,

Weren't Cemex supposed to be putting special extra measures in place to improve visibility around their lorries?
I see them daily and they don't even have the usual signs on the back to warn you not to slide up the inside.

Yeah, there's something about that here.

I would hesitate to prejudge the case based on what has been published.  Of all the haulage companies, Cemex has done much much more than most to improve the safety features of their vehicles.  It's not clear from the reports whether the vehicle was one of the new ones with all the signs, mirrors and proximity alarms.

[alexb]

Well, I sat in a restaurant on Friday lunchtime watching a steady stream of Cemex cement mixers go past, and of the three I spotted, none even had the basic sign warning about cyclists not going up the inside.

I'd love to give them the benefit of the doubt, but if the one that killed the latest cyclist wasn't fitted with extra mirros etc. what's the piont of all the publicity? You either roll it out across the whole fleet (i.e. accept that you have a problem and fix it all at once) or keep it quiet.
If the lorry responsible didn't have mirrors etc. fitted, then the obvious question is "why not?", if it did have them, then it's "what was the point, if it doesn't work?"

I'd like to see a campaign to have all the roadside fencing close to left turn junctions removed as well. I have a feeling this might have played a part at this particular junction, either that, or the pointless build-outs on that route that encourage timid cyclists to dodge in and out of the traffic stream.