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Two cyclists injured in Hackney days after local paper launches cycle safety campaign

Initiative aims to unite road users and has backing of mayors of Hackney and London

Two female cyclists have been injured in collisions with large vehicles on the streets of the London Borough of Hackney within the past 24 hours. The news comes just days after a local newspaper launched a campaign to make the borough’s streets safer for cyclists in the wake of the death of Daniel Cox earlier this month.

The 28-year-old was the third cyclist to die in the borough within the past 12 months, the others being Shivon Watson, also 28, who was killed last March after she became trapped between a tipper truck and railings, and Arina Romanova, 24, who died at the Royal London Hospital two weeks after being involved in a collision with a black cab.

While the two latest casualties are reported not to be suffering from life-threatening injuries, the incidents do highlight the dangers that cyclists continue to face not only in Hackney but elsewhere in the capital on a daily basis.

Yesterday evening, a female cyclist was involved in a collision at around 6.30pm with a double decker bus at the junction of Graham Road with Dalston Lane as she wheeled her bike across the road, according to eyewitnesses. She was treated in Homerton hospital and was said to be conscious, breathing and in a stable condition this morning.

The second incident, also involving a woman reported to be in her 30s, took place on City Road at around 8.50am this morning when she was involved in a collision with an HGV. She is being treated at the Royal London Hospital for leg injuries, with the Hackney Gazette reporting that the lorry's wheels went over her feet.

The Hackney Gazette’s Hackney Cycle Safe campaign, launched last week, has received the backing of the borough’s mayor, Jules Pipe, who told the newspaper: “In recent years, Hackney Council has gone to great efforts to improve safety for cyclists, including free cycle training to people living, working or studying in the borough.

“We also host a local safety working group, where the council and its partners meet up to discuss ways of improving cyclist and pedestrian safety around heavy goods vehicles. As a council, we support any additional efforts to try and create a safer environment for cyclists in Hackney.”

The campaign has also been endorsed by Mayor of London Boris Johnson, a resident of nearby Islington, who said: “Last year 10 cyclists were killed in the capital and TfL [Transport for London] is doing its utmost to reduce that number.

“I hope everyone using the roads in Hackney will take time to consider and follow the three point pledge highlighted on these pages. My team will be in touch with the Gazette to see how we might assist them with their worthy campaign.”

The initiative, which the newspaper designed with the help of the London Cycling Campaign is built around three ‘pedal pledges’ designed to “motorists, lorry drivers and cyclists in a common goal,” as follows:

Cyclists

  • Position yourself correctly and safely in the road
  • Make sure other drivers can see you and what you are planning to do at all times
  • Get as much training as you can

Motorists

  • Do not let yourself be distracted (by phones, SatNavs, stress)
  • Always be aware of where cyclists could be
  • Go slow

Lorry drivers

  • Check mirrors and check again
  • Use left hand indicators
  • Install the best equipment to help you detect cyclists

You can sign up to support the campaign on a dedicated page on the newspaper’s website.

 

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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Gregoire500 | 13 years ago
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I live in Hackney now and mostly cycle, but have had to drive a few times through London for work. Yes, the roads are chaotic, but that goes for every aspect of them, cars, peds, and cyclists included.

I think cycling myself makes me more aware of people on bikes, but I all too often see cyclists acting dangerously, whether squeezing in on the left of an HGV or simply putting themselves in danger by not having lights or occupying a primary position when doing so would make them more visible and assertive to prevent cars from being tempted to squeeze past. Driving was made all the more stressful by kamikaze style manoeuvres by cyclists and drivers alike trying to beat the lights or ignoring them altogether, so it gave me a taste of why there is so much mutual resentment as I experience the bad manners or dangerous actions of drivers most every time I get on my bike.

This doesn't remove the burden of care from motorists, far from it, but things like free cycle training (which I am hoping to take advantage of for my own benefit soon) and these campaigns are good as they confront all users to question their behaviour on the roads, and hopefully prevent some accidents that could otherwise be avoided by exercising due care on both sides of the divide.

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don_don | 13 years ago
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'pedal pledges'

I don't live in London, but I'm getting sick of hearing the same old vacuous bullsh1t in response to humans being killed by motor-vehicles.

No amount of training will stop you being killed by an inattentive speeding driver.

"Making sure other drivers can see you and what you are planning to do at all times" only works for the drivers who are looking and who understand how cyclists act/react in traffic, which means very few of them.

Yet more empty platitudes which conveniently avoid the difficult questions of safeguarding cyclists through proper infrastructure and removing HGVs from congested city streets.

What a waste of time  14

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tomascjenkins | 13 years ago
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I stayed with a friend in Hackney in Jan and was amazed at the number of speeding cars - despite the extensive traffic calming!!

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