Witness appeal after cyclist seriously injured in Camden lorry collision

I'm pretty sure I claim the whole lane there, sod anyone behind me, then join in with the onwards moving traffic. But I have felt pressured by the other road users to be somewhere else. Unfortunately with a road layout like that you have to be thinking ahead and riding assertively, and it only takes a few moments of uncertainty to end up in an unsafe position.

Of course, that's also a bit of a hill there too, so a (rather unobservant) driver approaching from behind could miss the cyclist slowing down and falling into their manoeuvring space.

I hope the woman makes a good recovery despite what sound like horrific injuries.

Possibly pedantic and possibly wrong but that looks like a roll off skip truck to me not a tipper - no big deal both construction related, both often paid by the load and expected to be at site at specific times and take a lot of road space to turn.

FFS, not again.

Ban these death-chariots from rush hour traffic, at least.

Looking at photos of the junction on the web, the junction filters cyclists into the left turn lane even if they're going straight on. Looks like a perfect storm if you have to cut across to the right of a high cabbed vehicle. Yes cyclists should hang back from HGV' s but there is very large element of tipper trucks being inappropriately designed for urban use. And no, tipper truck drivers wearing HI-viz, helmets and reflective tape is going to do sweet FA for vulnerable pedestrians, children or cyclists being directed into the wrong position.

Cyclist must ride with continual risk assessment at all times. We dress in hi-viz cover ourselves in reflective tape, wear helmets, glasses and gloves they ride like loonies at times.

Pity...
Simple answer is for cyclist to give HGV's a bit of time and a wide berth. Doing this she could have ridden to work the next day.
Looking at the truck its a 20tonner which for a city centre is a pretty unwieldy vehicle, a 16tonner would be so much more manouverable & shorter but carries 45% less capacity meaing more trips. It's a pay off against safety and cost so safety loses on this occasion. It shouldn't.

She was to the right of the truck as it made a left turn wasn't she? Vehicles do typically move to the right before making a left turn. This sets up the vehicle better for the corner. It's physics.

Tipper trucks do have a wide turning circle and to get round a tight corner, there is even more of a need to make this initial move to the right before making a left turn. And the large turning circle of a tipper also means that the move to the right would be more pronounced.

Banning tippers from London's streets is unlikely. Restricting their use to night time only is also unlikely. But fitting detection technology to alert the driver to the presence of a cyclist, motorcyclist or pedestrian is comparatively inexpensive. The systems are proven. They should be made compulsory for any tipper truck used in London. Tipper truck drivers should also be required to undergo cycle training to be allowed to drive in the city.

This woman is reported as having life changing injuries, so it's possible she may never recover fully.

How many deaths does it take before these lorries are banned from our inner city roads forever more during rush hour?

Tipper trucks should have skirts fitted to prevent the tragic accident yesterday. Plus a ban during rush hours would help!

Possibly she was turning left from infront and to the right of the truck. If she'd kept wide too and the driver was being overly conscientious with his left wing mirror view (which is perfectly reasonable I'd say) then it's quite possible that he'd have collided with her at that point and with his wheels locked to teh left like that.

It's tragic either way but it's hard to pin blame on the driver immediately. It would be interesting to see if he'd impeded on the ASL box at the junction (which would, as intended, have given her less time to get ahead of moving traffic) or not.

IMHO these tippers are what should be restricted to the midnight hours only as they are just too big, blindsided and cumbersome for rush hour or daylight traffic, even with a safe and sensible driver at the helm.

Thoughts are with her right now

Well, he seems negligent enough to not check his brake lights, one of them seems to be broken.

I don't understand how she got caught under the front wheels if she was travelling on the outside either, though, she must have been out of his line of sight under the cab or something?

Either way, looks shocking and I feel very sorry for all involved.

"how do you get dragged underneath a lorry turning left from there"
quite simple really - how many times have you seen a car move to the right immediately before turning left in the supposed need to get a better line at the corner. Not saying that the lorry did move to the right in order to turn left but it is a quite likely scenario. If the cyclist was keeping to the left of her lane then it is very easy to see how the two connected with such disturbing results.

According to the Evening Standard, she was travelling straight ahead on the right hand side of the lorry; how do you get dragged underneath a lorry turning left from there? An alarming number of these incidents seem to involve females in their 20s!

The blind spots are so easily removed....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CY3azQJZMsU

Can't planning permission be granted on the basis of safer lorries being used? Its the NHS, Police and emergancy services that bear the costs after all.

If the lorries are worried that they are being blamed when its the cyclists fault, these cameras could be set to record so we'd have some evidence.

This is horrible ... but .... I don't get it where has common sense gone?

When I'm cycling about I make sure I stay clear of large vehicles like this to ensure I don't put myself in the danger zone. Is this something to do with commuting in London and that you'd never make progress if you rode with the aim of protecting yourself from harm.

Need help understanding where common sense has gone?

I would be interested to know what the ratio of people killed by guns in London is to the amount of cyclists killed by tipper trucks in London is.
I dont mean to trivalise this but if tipper trucks were a particular breed of dog or a type of drug and had killed so many people im sure there would be MPs clamouring to get them banned.

How could you walk away after seeing any sort of accident?

I've just discovered that the Construction Industry Council are holding their annual Gala dinner on 7th November on the Southbank - http://www.cic.org.uk/events/event.php?event=2013-11-07-cic-gala-dinner

Anyone interested in a protest ride?

Tipper trucks. Why so often tipper trucks?