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Video: Aftermath of Bow Road cycle accident and comparison footage

Uploader says high quality cycle segregation needed

A cycle commuter has uploaded footage showing the moment when he happened upon a cyclist who had been knocked off his bike on the CS2 cycle superhighway on the 3rd of October. The video also features comparison footage of the same stretch of road on another day with the uploader keen to draw attention to its dangers

In the first part of the video, the uploader, sw19cam, happens upon the aftermath of an accident in which a fellow cyclist suffered a broken leg and concussion at the junction of Bow Road and Campbell Road after being hit by a van.

The second part then shows the same stretch of road a week later by way of comparison. Sw19cam cycles the route daily and says that while he had been shocked to see someone on the floor, he was also unsurprised.

Referring to the second part of the video, he said: “I regularly see bad situations arise there. The video is fairly typical.”

Sw19cam is highly critical of the road layout on this part of Bow Road and would like to see high quality cycle segregation.

“This is a typically bad part of Cycle Superhighway 2.  It offers zero protection for cyclists. It is merely blue paint within a lane. That's no benefit to us at all.”

There have been six deaths on CS2 since it opened in 2011 and last month, Mayor of London Boris Johnson announced that the route would be upgraded so as to be fully or partially separated from motor traffic by 2016.

Since then, Tower Hamlets and City of London have raised safety concerns, while RBS has joined dozens of businesses in pledging its support.

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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12 comments

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Rupert | 9 years ago
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Raised curb for the super highway would stop cars drifting into most parts of the cycle highway. Although this could not be done at junctions. I think a raised curb would make motor vehicle drivers more aware of cyclists rather than a bit of blue paint on the roads. The cost of a raised curb for cycle paths will be why it won't happen though at the moment.

Cyclist also have to be aware of what they are doing as well.
In this video the cyclist decides to ride between the bus and a car. Those with experience would not make that manoeuvre and WAIT!

Seems to me in the video the cyclist footage show him in a bit of a hurry and not reading the road very well.

There are two sides to the coin.

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jacknorell | 9 years ago
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Thanks MRMO.

Takeaway from that article is that road deaths started declining rapidly as soon as the roads began being redesigned for an inverse power structure (putting those with least power in the most favoured position).

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Beaufort | 9 years ago
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It just looks so dangerous, why would anyone commute in those conditions ?

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jacknorell | 9 years ago
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Wait, what? 200 cyclist road fatalities in NL in a single year? Source please?

UK had 218 fatalities in 2013, on a much lower modal share: http://www.rospa.com/roadsafety/adviceandinformation/cycling/facts-figur...

Any comparison on fatalities per million or billion KMs travelled?

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mrmo replied to jacknorell | 9 years ago
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jacknorell wrote:

Wait, what? 200 cyclist road fatalities in NL in a single year? Source please?

UK had 218 fatalities in 2013, on a much lower modal share: http://www.rospa.com/roadsafety/adviceandinformation/cycling/facts-figur...

Any comparison on fatalities per million or billion KMs travelled?

Couple of years out of date

http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2011/04/netherlands-traffic-deaths-...

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noether replied to jacknorell | 9 years ago
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Wait, what? 200 cyclist road fatalities in NL in a single year? Source please?

Dutch Central Bureau for Statistics 2012 (check the second PDF on the Dutch link).
The point is that more than half befell age group 70+.

mrmo found a link to a comprehensive study on cycling safety published in July 2008 "Making Cycling Irresistible: Lessons from The Netherlands, Denmark and Germany", Pucher and Buehler, Rutges University, New Jersey. The study is massive, enough to chew on for a couple of days. Meanwhile, the pictures included in the study already make CS2 (what's in a name) the joke of the month, were it not tragic. Wake up, the emperor wears no clothes.

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jorysmith | 9 years ago
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I nearly had a meeting with a car and the Tarmac at the same junction a few months ago. Luckily I stayed up right and only brushed the car which pulled across my path and did not indicated. Some protection needs to be given to cyclist along this route.

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noether | 9 years ago
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UK roads are unsafe for bikers. Not to say lethal. Car drivers are unaware or malevolent, road designers incompetent. A blogger mentioned TfL only looks into hazardous junctures if KSI data support the evidence. Meanwhile a slap of blue paint will do. Another blogger mentions numbers in the UK and NL are comparable. They are not. In 2012, 200 cyclists died in the NL for a population of 15 million; population is less relevant, bike trips undertaken/ km ridden are. And age distribution: of the 200, 120 were 70+.

http://www.veiligheid.nl/cijfers/fietsongevallen-algemeen

Safety will only improve if car drivers and civil servants in great numbers are lured into cycling. First step: put bobbies on bikes. Second step, stop the farcical paint job, build proper cycling infrastructure and show that cycling+public transport is faster, more convenient and safer than driving a car.

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johnnytoobad replied to noether | 9 years ago
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noether wrote:

Second step, stop the farcical paint job, build proper cycling infrastructurer.

jorysmith wrote:

Some protection needs to be given to cyclist along this route.

For once thats exactly whats being proposed. The plan to upgrade this route to full segregation is out for consultation now:
https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/cycling/cs2-upgrade

Unfortunately a few special interest groups (particularly Canary Wharf Group, or "old men in limos" as Chris Boardman calls them) as are desperate to derail or water the plans down. It needs our support now, if you haven't I urge you to fill out the consultation response now.

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Leviathan | 9 years ago
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Its an impossible choice on a lane like that; travel at the speed of the slowest car then be left behind by overtaking vehicles and crawl through the city (remember you will be disciplined if you are late again) or be forced to undertake static vehicles leaving you vulnerable to left hooks and haymakers. You can't divide traffic from the bike lane as it crosses a junction. When the lights are green to go forward a turning car will probably not see you until it is too late. This will happen at all kinds of blind little side turns. I am left fuming by small cars just ahead of me slowing and leaving a gap for crossing cars out of courtesy. It is no courtesy to get me punted if I emerge from their blind spot. I am very wary of any car decelerating in front of me or static cars I can't see over the top of*. I literally have to avoid this situation a couple of times a day, and one day might not be as aware or lucky. I don't know if there even is a solution that can be built into the junctions, but my sympathies to the rider, get well soon.

*One day I will collide with a jaywalking dwarf.

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LarryDavidJr replied to Leviathan | 9 years ago
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Quote:

I am left fuming by small cars just ahead of me slowing and leaving a gap for crossing cars out of courtesy.

Highway code rule 151:

Quote:

In slow-moving traffic. You should:
...
allow access into and from side roads, as blocking these will add to congestion
...

So they're doing the right thing.

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arowland replied to Leviathan | 9 years ago
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bikeboy76 wrote:

I don't know if there even is a solution that can be built into the junctions...

If you cannot separate different kinds of traffic (e.g. bikes and motor vehicles) physically in space, you must separate them in time.
I.e. have separate traffic light phases for bikes (usually 'all green') when motor vehicles must wait, in return for bikes waiting for motor vehicles. Timing should be such that bikes do not wait too long, in order to encourage cycle usage.

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