“Ghost bike” tribute to woman cyclist

A "ghost bike" was set to be placed at the accident blackspot where a woman cyclist died under the wheels of a cement mixer.

Friends and colleagues of talented trainee architect Rebecca Goossen were due to walk the white painted bike to the junction of Old Street and Goswell Road, yesterday (Wednesday), according to the Islington Gazette.

They hope the tribute will not only stand as a memorial to Miss Goossen, but also as a warning to other cyclists.

Miss Goossen, 29, died after she was caught on the inside of a left-turning cement mixer as she went to work on April 9.

She was one of two female cyclists killed within 24-hours on London’s roads at the beginning of this month. The other was mother-of-two Meryem Ozekman, 37, a fitness instructor from Southwark, who was crushed by a lorry on the notorious Elephant and Castle roundabout, according to a story in the London Evening Standard.

Figures from the CTC show HGVs account for around 20-25 per cent of cyclists’ fatalities in any given year, and over 50 per cent in London. Last year, 10 out of 13 cyclists’ deaths in London resulted from collisions with lorries. Women are particularly at risk.

Earlier this week the CTC strongly welcomed the inclusion of a new target to reduce the risk of cycling in the Government’s draft Road Safety Strategy. The strategy backs CTC’s call for a target to halve the risks of cycling within 10 years.

But the group says more needs to be done to improve HGV drivers’ awareness of cycling issues, including improvements to the design of lorries (in particular the fitting of mirrors) and the management of HGV vehicle fleets.