Cycling is dangerous

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Another cyclist dies on London's streets: Five dead and three fighting for life in nine days of tragedy in the capital

• Man killed last night after being hit by double-decker bus at Aldgate
• Venera Minakhmetova, 24, killed yesterday at Bow roundabout
• Courier, 43, died on Tuesday after getting trapped under a bus in Croydon
• A 69-year-old was killed after crashing his bike in Holborn on Friday
• Another man died on Tuesday 5 November on Mile End Road
• Three other cyclists currently in hospital after road accidents in capital
• Campaigners put pressure on Boris Johnson to boost cycle safety
  
• WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
  

By JENNIFER SMITH and HUGO GYE
PUBLISHED: 17:03 GMT, 13 November 2013 | UPDATED: 18:01 GMT, 14 November 2013


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Another cyclist has died after being hit by a double-decker bus - the second casualty on London's roads in less than 24 hours.

In total, five London cyclists have been killed in just nine days, while another man is fighting for life after colliding with a lorry and two more accident victims remain in hospital.

Last night cyclists held a candle-lit vigil at the Bow roundabout in East London, one of the most dangerous intersections in the capital, where 24-year-old Venera Minakhmetova died yesterday morning.
Now mayor Boris Johnson, a keen cyclist himself, is under pressure from campaigners to improve bicycle safety in the capital.

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Victim: Venera Minakhmetova was killed in a crash at Bow roundabout, right, yesterday morning



Horror: Witnesses at the scene described the roundabout as a 'death trap'
Former Transport Secretary Lord Adonis has called for an independent review of cycling safety in London following the latest death.
Cycling charity CTC said all bike riders were 'sickened by the continuing failure to protect cyclists', while British Cycling called for an 'urgent investigation' into the incidents.

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• Cyclist robbed 'by Good Samaritans' who took his iPhone and wallet as he lay unconscious in the road
• 'They saved my life': Injured cyclist praises passers-by who lifted car off her after she was run over

Meanwhile, a cyclist who died in a noon-time collision with a bus in East Croydon, south London, on Tuesday has been named.
He was Roger William De Klerk, 43, an IT consultant and courier, of Forest Hill, south east London
The bus stopped at the scene and the driver was not arrested.
The police statement went on: 'A post-mortem examination has taken place and gave the cause of death as compression of the head, neck and chest.'
Police added an inquest had been opened and adjourned today at Croydon Coroner's Court.


Tragedy: Five people have been killed in cycling accidents over the past nine days

Map: Three of the five deaths in the past nine days have happened in East London, with one in Holborn and another in South London

The latest death came around 11.30pm yesterday when a male cyclist was hit by a bus at the junction of Whitechapel Road and Commercial Road in Aldgate, East London.
The man was treated on the roadside by the London Ambulance Service but died in hospital of head injuries at around 4am today, Scotland Yard said.
The bus driver was treated for shock at the scene. No arrests have been made, but police are appealing for witnesses to the crash to come forward with information.
It emerged today that the cyclist may have been travelling the wrong way down a one-way street towards a busy junction immediately before the fatal collision.

A spokesman for Transport for London said: 'It is our understanding from information gathered at the scene that the victim was travelling South to North from Leman Street to Commercial Road.

'Leman Street is a one-way street and it is our understanding that he was coming from the wrong end of that street.

'However, the police investigation is ongoing and we will wait for that before saying anything further.'




Vigil: Cyclists gathered at the Bow roundabout last night to mourn those who have died on London's roads


Candle-lit: Cyclists showed their support for the victims of London's dangerous road network
Yesterday morning Ms Minakhmetova, a Russian who lived in Bethnal Green and apparently worked in the IT industry, was killed in a rush-hour collision with a lorry at Bow.
It is thought she and the lorry were travelling west along the A11 when the collision occurred, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Ms Minakhmetova, a graduate of the Cass Business School at City University, worked in corporate finance before starting a business networking app called Simple2Connect.

Detective Sergeant Stuart Henson from the Metropolitan Police's road death investigation unit said today: 'I would appeal to anyone who witnessed the collision, or the events leading up to the collision, to contact police.

'It is vital that we piece together the series of events which led to Venera's tragic death.'


Anger: Many at the vigil accused officials of not doing enough to keep cyclists safe
Eyewitness Trenton Oldfield, who lives in nearby Whitechapel, said: 'The taxi driver who was the first one to get out and help looked completely traumatised.

'He looked like his how life had changed in that moment, like he wished he could go back in time to be the person he was before it happened.

'He was just standing with the policeman not saying anything. He looked numb with shock. I will never forget the look on that man's face.

'That is the thing about these accidents. Everybody feels the after-effects: the driver, the cyclist, the people who see it and go out to help.'



Activist records gathering at Bow, London where rider was killed










Watch the full video

Meanwhile three other people remain in hospitals across London after being knocked from their bicycles in similar accidents.
On Friday architectural expert Francis Golding was killed in a collision on the junction at Vernon Place and Southampton Row, Holborn.

The 69-year-old was rushed to St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, but died from injuries sustained in the accident on Friday.
MAYOR OF LONDON BORIS JOHNSON WARNS CYCLISTS TO BE CAREFUL



Mr Johnson said today: 'There's no question of blame or finger-pointing. That doesn't work in these circumstances.
'But unless people obey the laws of the road and people actively take account of the signals that we put in, there's no amount of traffic engineering that we invest in that is going to save people's lives.'
Speaking on LBC 97.3, the mayor said: 'Some of the cases that we've seen in the last few days really make your heart bleed because you can see that people have taken decisions that really did put their lives in danger.
'You cannot blame the victim in these circumstances. But what you can say is that when people make decisions on the road that are very risky - jumping red lights, moving across fast-moving traffic in a way that is completely unexpected and without looking to see what traffic is doing - it's very difficult for the traffic engineers to second-guess that.
'I'm appealing to all cyclists, as well as all motorists, do think of the laws of the road, because if you take these hasty, rash decisions that we're seeing sometimes, then you will be endangering your life.'
Green Party peer Baroness Jones responded on Twitter by saying: 'Grrr. How dare Mayor of London blame cycling victims?! So it's not his buses nor his smoothing-traffic-flow policy, nor his poor schemes?'


Collision: Roger William De Klerk, 43, an IT consultant and courier, of Forest Hill, south east London was killed in Croydon on Tuesday when he was hit by a bus while cycling on tramways


Accident: Mr De Klerk went into cardiac arrest before being pronounced dead at hospital
Brian Holt, 62, died on Tuesday 5 November after a colliding with a tipper lorry on the 'cycle superhighway' CS2, on Mile End Road.

Just fifteen minutes after yesterday's accident in Bow, police were called to an incident involving a cyclist and a lorry on Millbank at the junction of Thorney Street in central London.
The victim, believed to be in his 30s, was taken to hospital where he is currently undergoing surgery after sustaining life-threatening injuries.

A second female cyclist suffered severe injuries to her leg after colliding with a bus on Vauxhall Bridge an hour earlier, though her condition is not thought to be critical.

On Tuesday a man was taken to hospital after colliding with a bus in south-west London. He is in a 'serious but stable' condition according to police.
13 cyclists have died on London's roads so far this year, with eight of the deaths involving lorries.



Crash: A man in his 30s was hit by a lorry in Millbank, Westminster, yesterday just 15 minutes after the fatal accident in Bow


Cordon: Police closed off part of the road following the accident in Central London


TFL safety video tells cyclists how to tackle Bow roundabout








Pressure: London mayor Boris Johnson faces calls to improve cycle safety around the capital

Lord Adonis, rumoured to be a possible candidate for the next mayor of London, tweeted today: 'The Mayor should appoint a rapid independent review of [cycling] superhighways after the horror of all these cyclists' deaths in London.'
CTC chief executive Gordon Seabright said 'CTC and all cyclists are sickened by the continuing failure to protect cyclists, in particular from the dangers caused by lorries in our towns and cities.

'We want to see the Mayor of London and all those responsible for the safety of our streets living up to their promises.'

Hotspot: Yesterday's tragedy in Bow marks the third death of a cyclist at the roundabout, pictured

British Cycling's campaigns manager, Martin Key, said: 'While cyclist deaths are rare, it is clearer than ever that national government and councils must take urgent action on designing roads that address cyclists' needs.

'The fact that five cyclists have been killed in London in the last nine days is shocking news and an urgent investigation needs to take place into what could have been done to prevent these deaths.'

Leon Daniels, managing director of Transport for London's surface transport, said: 'Cycling in London is growing, with almost three times the number of cyclists in the capital than 10 years ago.

'We are investing heavily in our cycling programme and our aim is to make cycling as safe as possible, with measures such as improved cycle routes and junctions across London.'
Yesterday's Bow roundabout tragedy has sparked outrage among cyclists and campaigners who claim travelling around the capital by bike should be made safer.

London Assembly Green Party member Darren Johnson said: 'The mayor’s failure to make roads safer for cycling in the last six years is the reason we are having so many tragedies now.'
Speaking of the segregated lanes introduced between Stratford and Bow roundabout last week, a London Cycling Campaign spokesman said: 'The section of the Cycle Super Highway from Aldgate to Bow was terrible from the start. It was massively below the safety standards.
'They promised to put in a segregated and semi-segregated lanes and we do welcome that, but there was no proposal for Bow roundabout and from today's news we can see that this needs to be addressed.'
Ms Minakhmetova's death occurred almost exactly two years after the death of Ukranian-born cyclist Svitlana Tereschnecko who was killed on the same busy slip-road.

Brian Dorling, 58, was also killed on the roundabout in November 2011 in a separate accident.

Witnesses yesterday described the scene in Bow as 'a death trap'.

Anika Bullock, 33, said: 'I was going to Tesco when I saw the ambulance, fire and police. I thought to myself, "Please don’t let another person have died - not here again."
'The roundabout is a death trap. It causes me huge anxiety just to cross it. God knows what’s it’s like to cycle on it.'
Cyclist saved by strangers who lifted car off her after crash

Escape: Cyclist Claire Pepper was rescued from beneath a car after a collision in Spitalfields, East London, on Monday evening

A woman was saved from a possibly fatal accident this week when 10 passers-by lifted a car that was trapping her body following an accident.

Claire Pepper suffered a broken bone after colliding with a car while cycling in Spitalfields, East London on Monday.

The 27-year-old photographer claims she wouldn't have been so lucky if she hadn't been wearing a helmet.

Up to 10 passers-by physically heaved the VW car off her so paramedics could treat her.

Speaking from her hospital bed Miss Pepper, who has no recollection of the crash, said: 'I still can’t figure out how it happened.

'I left work and had been cycling for about 10 minutes. I remember being on my bike on Kingsland Road and the next thing I remember was waking up in hospital at 2am.

'Undoubtedly the people that lifted the car off me saved my life so I could get help quicker. They are my heroes.'

Miss Pepper, who has done fashion shoots for Elle and Topshop, may now have to undergo surgery. But she said: 'It could have been a lot worse.

'I’m really lucky to be alive. If anything comes out of this story I want to urge people to wear helmets as they can save lives.

'If I hadn’t had one on I probably would have had a really serious head injury and maybe wouldn’t even be here now.'

The photographer, who lives with her boyfriend Jonathan Gales, 27, in Brockley, South-East London, now wants to personally thank the people who helped her.


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