Tipper truck driver who didn't indicate admits causing death of pregnant cyclist on Cycle Superhighway

A lorry driver has pleaded guilty to causing the death of cyclist Charlotte Landi by careless driving. Jason Edmunds, 44, turned left without indicating at the junction of Grosvenor Road and Chelsea Bridge in September of last year.

The BBC reports that Landi was riding along the non-segregated Cycle Superhighway 8 on her way to work at the Hampshire School in Chelsea. She was hit by the tipper truck driven by Edmunds when he made what one witness described as a "sudden left turn".

Prosecutor Sophie Akister said Landi, who was believed to have been 12 weeks' pregnant, "would not have been aware that the tipper was intending to turn left".

She told the court: “He did not indicate that he was turning left. Had he indicated, a warning would have sounded.

“Unfortunately Charlotte Landi passed underneath the vehicle and went under some of the wheels. She died from catastrophic injuries.

“The indicators were in full working order together with the audible indicator. Had it sounded, it is likely she would have known that he was going to turn left.

“There was a partially eaten sandwich beside him – he denies being distracted by eating at the time of the incident. He is of previous good character, no prior convictions.”

Edmunds was released on conditional bail and is due to be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on a date yet to be set.

District judge Michael Snow said: "It is still a case which must go to the crown court for sentencing. Not only was there the tragic death of Mrs Landi in this case, but she was pregnant with a child, probably 12 weeks into the pregnancy."

Following Landi’s death, the campaign group Stop Killing Cyclists held a vigil and ‘die-in’ in her memory outside Kensington & Chelsea Town Hall.

The group’s co-founder, Donnachadh McCarthy, said: “She was a beautiful young woman just trying to go to work at her school. This junction needs to be protected but it’s being opposed at the consultation level in the boroughs.”