London's killer roundabout claims another cyclist as woman dies at Bow

The BBC reports that a female cyclist in her mid-20s has died after being hit by a lorry at London's Bow roundabout this morning.

The as-yet-unnamed woman was pronounced dead at the scene after being attended by London Ambulance Service. The crash happened at about 08:47 GMT.

In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said: "It is believed the lorry was travelling west along the A11, entering the roundabout to turn south towards the Blackwall Tunnel.

"The cyclist is believed to have been travelling in the same direction when the collision occurred.

"The male driver of the lorry stopped at the scene. There have been no arrests."

Ross Lydal of the Evening Standard reports that the woman was not actually on Cycle Superhighway 2 at the time. The notoriously dangerous route has recently been extended east of Bow Roundabout with a largely-segregated lane to Stratford.

Cyclist Robin Stephenson told the Standard about the aftermath of the crash which he saw as he rode over the Bow flyover on his way to work as an IT manager: “The traffic was backing up from Stratford High Street. I went over the flyover and saw a huge number of emergency services down there.

“I commute that way every weekday but don’t use the roundabout - I won’t use it. I go over the flyover rather than round the roundabout. The whole area is just dreadful. The only way that they will fix it is to have full segregation for cyclists.”

The London Cycling Campaign has announced a protest ride this evening at Bow roundabout, meeting at 6pm for 6.30. 

LCC's Chief Executive Ashok Sinha said, "Although we don't know the exact circumstances of today's crash, we know it happened just a few metres from where Svitlana Tereschenko was killed in 2011.

"It's unbelievable that we are, again, two years after that death, calling on Mayor Boris Johnson to install cycling and pedestrian-safe traffic lights at Bow roundabout to prevent more Londoners being killed.

"A cyclist-specific traffic lights were recommended by TfL's own consultants before Superhighway 2 was built, but the recommendations of expert consultants, cyclists and pedestrians have been ignored."

The Metropolitan Police are appealing for witnesses who should contact the witness appeal line on 020 8597 4747.

The woman is the fourth cyclist to die on London's roads in the last week, and the twelfth this year. 

Last Thursday hospital porter Brian Holt was killed when he was hit by a lorry on Cycle Superhighway 2 at Mile End. Hours later planning expert Francis Golding was hit by a coach in Holborn and died of his injuries the next day. Yesterday a 40-year-old man was killed when he was hit by a bus in Croydon.

Since it opened in 2011, three cyclists have died in collisions with trucks on  Cycle Superhighway 2, and three more have died very close to the route while apparently about to join it.

The first was Brian Dorling in 2011, followed just three weeks later by Svitlana Tereschenko, who while not technically on CS2 at the time was at Bow Roundabout, about to use the route to ride west.

French student Philippine De Gerin-Ricard was also hit by a tipper truck when she was killed on July 7 of this year, and on September 15 nursing assistant Maria Karsa was hit by a truck at the Aldgate gyratory, just before the western end of CS2.