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Video: Head-on collision with another cyclist on CS3
A London cyclist has urged CS3 users to ride more cautiously after uploading footage of a head-on collision between two riders. The two collided when one attempted to overtake another cyclist on a narrow stretch of the cycle superhighway at Blackfriars.
Writing on YouTube, video uploader 4ChordsNoNet said: “This section of CS3 (East/West Cycle Superhighway) is one of the narrowest, yet it doesn't stop some people from riding too fast and trying to overtake at busy times.”
The footage shows a number of riders overtaking, but when one woman attempts to pass a man on a Boris Bike who is riding a little more centrally, she finds herself cramped for room and ends up colliding with someone approaching from the other direction.
Even worse, footage from a rear-facing camera shows that the cyclist she hits is then run into by a following rider as he lies on the ground. That person is then catapulted over the kerb and into the road. 4ChordsNoNet explained that fortunately the phasing of the lights meant the traffic had been held back.
Speaking about the aftermath, they add:
“The female cyclist that caused this chain of events had a swollen finger, grazed and maybe broken, difficult to tell. She also complained about hert shoulder, and when following her afterwards, she was constantly rubbing her thigh.
“The cyclist going the other way that she hit, needed help to get up. He said that he was okay, but I think he may have some more serious injuries that will did not surface at the time. The one that hit him and ended up in the road, seemed perfectly fine, if not a bit bruised.”
And as if fellow cyclists were not significant enough obstacles, YouTube user Simon Allen recently captured footage of a car driving in another stretch of London’s cycle superhighway network.
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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108 comments
The issue unfortunately is that the design of the path expects primarily tidal flows hence the lack central lines.
The reality of this space indicates that this should probably be widened and some sort of physical barrier put in place to discourage this type of overtaking.
In other news, given the actions of that woman, she can probably be sued by the other people for her wreckless endagerment of their lives through 'cycling furiously'.
It is a lovely stretch of highway, tbf, especially the new section, but it is just too busy to use during the rush hour, I'm on that bit at about 7:10 and it's fine, any later and it's vile, much better to use the road.
The old bit of CS3 after Tower Hill is deadly though, much narrower than this bit and squeezed tight between the pavement and the road, the CS generally littered with laughing gas canisters (which I used to generously think were discarded CO2 inflators).
Me too i used to think it was mountain bikers taking bikes out of cars inflating the tyres and dumping them in my street (they ride in the forest opposite).
We clearly need fast lanes and slow lanes on a cycle superhighway.
I actually think the Boris biker is at fault here, he clearly doesn't have the experience to be riding during rush-hour in a super highway.
Are you actually being serious or is my wit detector badly failing me today ? I pray it's the latter....
He certainly had the hardware if not the experience. Wait till schoolkids start using it - oh, they're not meant to?
At fault for being hit from behind by what we would call a punishment pass if a driver carried it out?
That is a totally confused take. The whole purpose of building the so called Cycle Superhighways was to give normal people the confidence to cycle. So to say the problem is that such people are using them is a post-hoc excuse for a poor design.
This is supposed to be a flagship superhighway demonstrator for the nation and what have we got? A totally inadequate far too narrow mess. If it was Dutch it would be twice that width for the traffic volumes and alll these things would not be an issue.
Unfortunately the segregationist lobby with their don't bother about anything else so long as its segregated approach had their way and now the cyclists of London are forced to use inadequate facilities (try cycling Embankment on the road now if you don't beleive they are forced)
Get used to it though folks because this is as good as segregation is going to get in the UK.
He was taking the space he needed to feel comfortable, he wasn't weaving or braking. The would-be overtaker tried to ride through a gap that wasn't there, with nowhere to go, and clipped his handlebar. Don't treat commuting like a bunch sprint.
If we were in the Netherlands, where there are always large numbers of cyclists in a city, nobody would be trying to go as fast as the people in Blackfriars.
What we have is vehicular cycling mixing with continental city cycling.
No, what we have is vehicular cyclists being de facto forced to mix with continental city cycling.
Just an accident - people will learn to adjust their riding speeds, well that woman will I hope.
It was always going to be the problem with cycle lanes - in busy times people can't ride at an all out pace. Quite frankly though, I'd take this drawback over competing with the cars for space any day - just slow down a bit.
He stayed upright! This is yet another proof that Boris Bikes rule!
That was a crazy dangerous overtake. If you're in that much of a hurry, take the road.
I think Ptt3 has interprepreted duc888's original post correctly. Duc 888 wrotesimply that "segregated cycle ways dont work" - that's an absolute statement with no qualification.
Maybe they mean or think something different but we can only work with what we get on the page.
Definitely does not seem wide enough for passing between cyclists. Fellow cyclists also need to respect the 'dynamic envelope' that others require for safety.
The female cyclist is trying a stupid overtake where there is not enough room (not enough space in front of the Boris Biker and is just sitting in the right hand side of the lane). The she knocks the Boris Biker causing his wobble and leading to the crash.
There is not a lot of point hurrying down this section as you always hit the red light at the bottom and the next section along Castle Bernard Street is nice and wide for overtaking.
Just a bit more common sense in when it's a good time to overtake and when it's better to wait would have saved all this.
This with bells on
There is normally no excuse for cyclists to cycle in the centre of a path, because all bicycle tires have a round profile tred, so any cambering slope is trivial for bicycles unlike for some pedestrians.
People who cycle in the UK should damned try to cycle on their Left side of a path, just like for the road, and only cycle to their Right to overtake or to avoid impediments or hazards on their Left, so the Boris Bike rider was either incompetent to ride a bicycle or just plain rude cycling in the centre, so was causing an obstruction which made an accident just a matter of time.
The female cyclist was also at fault for not using a bell or a loud horn to get the obstructive rider to move out of the way, and attempting an obviously unsafe overtake.
Just wow. Boris biker waiting for oncoming traffic to pass so he could overtake. He had rightly decided the path is not safely 3 bikes wide. Overtake ploughs through anyway.
I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often tbh.
Lots of risky overtakers on CSHs only get away with it by relying on others take avoiding action.
She nudged the Boris bikes handlebar initially, causing him to wobble
Isn't this the bit where they skimped on the width of the cycle way to pander to concerns about vehicle capacity by not removing another vehicle lane?
The 2 way cycle routes are not a brilliant idea for lots of reasons, this is an example of one of them. At that width it is only really safe as a one way path. They just haven't built the corresponding cycle path on the other side of the road yet. The thing is this is likely to go effectivly unreported so it hampers the case being made for more capacity, capacity which is clearly already required and was specified in the original design, then removed.
Overtaking in those light with low sun/dark in the shade situations is always precarious.
Further proof that segregated cycle ways dont work, they merely appease the do gooders
You are probably trolling but I guess I will bite:
You see a cycle lane full of cyclists and then explain that it is "not working". Perhaps you need a re-think, extrapolating one video of an accident to writing off a whole concept is pushing the realms of credibilty somewhat.
I think you have just completely misinterpreted P3t3's intended message. It's just that what is referred to as segregated clearly is not segregrated properly/adequately/safely.
In context, this cycleway doesn't work because of the flow of bikes in both directions and sheer volume, but it does prove the concept is sound and that there should be 2 lanes and not just 1 lane.
I feel that it appeases the motorists or do-gooders on their behalf.
No, segreagated lane work just fine.
But you need some common sense whereever you are riding.
She hit the guy coming the other way because the Boris biker wobbled into her. Nevertheless, a bit more care all round probably wouldn't go amiss.
Close pass...?
I've watched it a few times and it looks like he's wide anyway and she takes his bar. She looks like she overestimated the space or his bar width.
Looking at the clip, I think I'd rather ride next to cars.
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