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Cyclist seriously injured in London Blackfriars lorry collision

Rider hospitalised on day of planned evening protest over recent cyclist deaths

A female cyclist, believed to be in her 20s, was rushed to hospital this morning after being involved in a collision with a lorry in London.

The rider was treated at the scene, near Blackfriars Bridge before being taken to hospital with injuries police initially said were live-threatening, the Evening Standard reports.

He condition is now understood to be stable.

Officers were called to the junction of Southwark Street and Blackfriars Road at about 10am.

Chris Kenyon tweeted these images of the aftermath of the collision.

All but one of the cyclist fatalities in London this year have involved heavy goods vehicles.

Last week City of London Police announced that in the first month of a crackdown on dangerous vehicles in the City, its new TfL-funded Commercial Vehicle Unit had stopped 136 vehicles and taken 95 dangerous vehicles off the road.

Drivers of the 95 non-compliant vehicles were found to be committing offences including lack of insurance; driving without the appropriate licence; driving with unsafe tyres; driving a vehicle with an unsafe load; and not accurately recording driver hours.

This evening, Monday June 29, campaign group Stop Killing Cyclists will stage a vigil and die-in at London's Bank junction to commemorate Ying Tao, the 26 year old woman killed while riding her bike there on June 22, and Clifton James, killed in Harrow on June 21.

Cyclists will meet at 17.30 in front of The Royal Exchange opposite The Bank of England, Threadneedle Street EC4, to stage the die-in.

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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15 comments

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Matt_S | 8 years ago
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Just over the road from my office. The whole area around Blackfriars is a fcuking deathtrap for cyclists. It's shameful.

 2

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OldRidgeback | 8 years ago
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I worked just round the corner for many years and know the area well. It should (and could) be better for cycling than it is, given the width of the road.

I hope she recovers ok.

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Judge dreadful | 8 years ago
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It never gets better does it?

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TeamExtreme | 8 years ago
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This is on my route to work and it's not a nice part at all. The traffic is very busy and there are usually a large number of construction vehicles due to the building sites just south of Blackfriars Bridge and north on the cut-through to Holborn Circus.

Hope she makes a full recovery.

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mrmo | 8 years ago
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another hgv and another women....

How can two relatively small groups of road users be responsible for the majority of deaths?

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Opus the Poet replied to mrmo | 8 years ago
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mrmo wrote:

another hgv and another women....

How can two relatively small groups of road users be responsible for the majority of deaths?

Don't rush things, she's [Monty Python]not dead yet[/Monty Python]

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AJ101 | 8 years ago
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I was a participant in the earliest Critical Mass rides in London because it felt like something urgently needed to be done. With congestion charging and bike hire I guess I'd grown complacent and stopped going.

The deaths and injuries people have been suffering recently while they just try to ride a bike through london, have woken me out of my slumber.

I'll be there tonight at Bank especially. I'd urge anyone else in the area to come on down as well, even if you don't have your bike with you,

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Brooess | 8 years ago
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City AM have been covering all the recent incidents, as has the Evening Standard - noticeably more media coverage than there used to be.
It feels like we're reaching tipping point in terms of awareness of the problems caused by lousy infrastructure in London and a drive for positive change.
Cycle Superhighways were largely supported by employers too.
I think we're turning a corner in gaining support for cycling amongst the general population, fingers crossed it leads to real change

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danthomascyclist replied to Brooess | 8 years ago
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Brooess wrote:

I think we're turning a corner in gaining support for cycling amongst the general population,

I really hope you're right. Last Friday as I was just walking out the office I had this conversation:

"I drove past you on the dual-carriageway last Friday, you need to be more cautious"
"Sorry? More cautious how? I'm visible, I wear a helmet, lights, I shoulder-check often and I pay attention - what more can I do?"
"Oh, I just thought you should be more cautious"

I didn't push it, and I think she quickly realised how ignorant she sounds, but is this a typical thought process? "There's a cyclist, they're doing it wrong"

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PaulBox replied to danthomascyclist | 8 years ago
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danthomascyclist wrote:

"I drove past you on the dual-carriageway last Friday, you need to be more cautious"
"Sorry? More cautious how? I'm visible, I wear a helmet, lights, I shoulder-check often and I pay attention - what more can I do?"
"Oh, I just thought you should be more cautious"

A colleague & I had a similar conversation a couple of weeks back, we were lycra'd up in the lift with her. She said "You cyclists really get on my nerves, can you tell me the best way to get cyclists out of my way when I'm driving?"

We tried to explain the situation to her, but we were amazed at her attitude...  102

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Opus the Poet replied to PaulBox | 8 years ago
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PaulBox wrote:
danthomascyclist wrote:

"I drove past you on the dual-carriageway last Friday, you need to be more cautious"
"Sorry? More cautious how? I'm visible, I wear a helmet, lights, I shoulder-check often and I pay attention - what more can I do?"
"Oh, I just thought you should be more cautious"

A colleague & I had a similar conversation a couple of weeks back, we were lycra'd up in the lift with her. She said "You cyclists really get on my nerves, can you tell me the best way to get cyclists out of my way when I'm driving?"

We tried to explain the situation to her, but we were amazed at her attitude...  102

"Drive on a motorway where there are no cyclists"

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vonhelmet replied to PaulBox | 8 years ago
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PaulBox wrote:

A colleague & I had a similar conversation a couple of weeks back, we were lycra'd up in the lift with her. She said "You cyclists really get on my nerves, can you tell me the best way to get cyclists out of my way when I'm driving?"

We tried to explain the situation to her, but we were amazed at her attitude...  102

Ask her how she thinks you should get cars out of your way when you're cycling.

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felixcat replied to danthomascyclist | 8 years ago
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danthomascyclist wrote:

"I drove past you on the dual-carriageway last Friday, you need to be more cautious"

She probably meant you should be in a car.

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Phil_Gray replied to felixcat | 8 years ago
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That was my default interpretation of her meaning too - not so much about how you're riding, but where...

As a non-driver, I frequently find that drivers expectations of cyclists are weird.

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danthomascyclist | 8 years ago
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Like clockwork.

I hope she makes a full recovery.

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