Chris Boardman's mum killed in cycling collision

mellowsun

Hit by a pickup truck. Don't know the circumstances, but too many cyclists are getting killed by unobservant or downright aggressive drivers.

It seems to me part of a deteriorating culture on the roads. I see many drivers not indicating and driving while on the phone, many do not seem to give a shit.

kuro

Wondered why he hadn't been on ITV4. Christ's sake.

littlegreenman

Hit and run apparently, police are asking for witnesses.

Chris' tribute to his Mum, as shown at the end of today's Tour highlights show was very touching.

holnrew

People are becoming more selfish

Sambostar

Uninsured Immigrants

Winny_Pooh

holnrew said:

People are becoming more selfish

Nope, the selfish are just breeding too much.

p90fool

I love the way the news says she "collided with a vehicle". Someone wiped her out. 

lloyd

The issue isn't with motorists or with cyclists-it's with shit road users-of which their are many on both sides, it's just that when you make or are affected by a mistake on the road, when you're on a bike, it can be a fatal one more often than were you in a car/van.

CabbageCat

Most bike deaths (no stats...just something I heard) are caused by big vehicles because they can't see cyclists pulling alongside them. It's also disproportionately women because they are littler so they fit into blind spots better and they generally obey the rules of the road better so are more likely to wait at lights and get mashed when pulling away.

Not saying that happened with Mrs B, but if it was then I sympathise with the driver. I don't know what one would be expected to do in that situation. They should have stickers on the passenger doors saying, "Dear cyclist. If you are reading this I can't see you. I suggest you don't pull away at the same time as me."

CabbageCat

mellowsun said:

It seems to me part of a deteriorating culture on the roads. I see many drivers not indicating and driving while on the phone, many do not seem to give a shit.

I think that's just perception:

Teetonetal

mellowsun said:

Hit by a pickup truck. Don't know the circumstances, but too many cyclists are getting killed by unobservant or downright aggressive drivers.

It seems to me part of a deteriorating culture on the roads. I see many drivers not indicating and driving while on the phone, many do not seem to give a shit.

Let's be clear, some cyclists are also awful, running red lights, hopping on and off pavements, cycling against traffic.. regardless of the mode of transport, some people are just idiots.

rlw

Teetonetal said:

mellowsun said:

Hit by a pickup truck. Don't know the circumstances, but too many cyclists are getting killed by unobservant or downright aggressive drivers.

It seems to me part of a deteriorating culture on the roads. I see many drivers not indicating and driving while on the phone, many do not seem to give a shit.

Let's be clear, some cyclists are also awful, running red lights, hopping on and off pavements, cycling against traffic.. regardless of the mode of transport, some people are just idiots.

One of our very best friends was killed by cycling down the inside of a left turning truck in Catford.  Very sad but avoidable and very stupid on her part. 

I'm not surprised that so many people don't stop these days when you are looking at a possible eight year sentence for  looking in the right place at the wrong time, and vice-versa, and all at the whim of a jury.

cosmiccarrot

littlegreenman said:

Hit and run apparently, police are asking for witnesses.

Chris' tribute to his Mum, as shown at the end of today's Tour highlights show was very touching.

Not sure if it's a hit and run, the police are looking for witnesses to the accident, where did you read this?
It's not far from where I live and the roundabout is at the bottom of a hill in the middle of a housing estate.

Very sad news

crunchman

CabbageCat said:

mellowsun said:

It seems to me part of a deteriorating culture on the roads. I see many drivers not indicating and driving while on the phone, many do not seem to give a shit.

I think that's just perception:

Not sure that the graph shows the whole picture.  There has been a massive cycling boom in London, where cycling has been getting a lot safer.  If you could split London out from that graph I suspect that it might well have been getting worse in the rest of the country.

CabbageCat

crunchman said:

CabbageCat said:

mellowsun said:

It seems to me part of a deteriorating culture on the roads. I see many drivers not indicating and driving while on the phone, many do not seem to give a shit.

I think that's just perception:

Not sure that the graph shows the whole picture.

I agree. It's effectively impossible to see the whole picture. I think it does show a better picture than the very narrow and subjective "...seems to me..." viewpoint though.

JohnnyPlectrum

I can't help thinking it's a war out there - I've really never known anything quite like it and it seems to be getting worse.
I don't think I go for a ride these days without experiencing some sort of incident, in most of which the cyclist is blameless.
I'm not sure it's the naughty, pavement dwelling, red-light jumpers that are being mown down though - it's the serious cyclists.

lloyd

JohnnyPlectrum said:

I can't help thinking it's a war out there - I've really never known anything quite like it and it seems to be getting worse.
I don't think I go for a ride these days without experiencing some sort of incident, in most of which the cyclist is blameless.
I'm not sure it's the naughty, pavement dwelling, red-light jumpers that are being mown down though - it's the serious cyclists.


Can you back any of that up or is it just your feelings on the matter based on your own experiences?

There's twats on both sides of the coin, some days the good ones will be the bad ones and vice versa, sometimes the twats are just normal people making mistakes.

crunchman

JohnnyPlectrum said:

I can't help thinking it's a war out there - I've really never known anything quite like it and it seems to be getting worse.
I don't think I go for a ride these days without experiencing some sort of incident, in most of which the cyclist is blameless.
I'm not sure it's the naughty, pavement dwelling, red-light jumpers that are being mown down though - it's the serious cyclists.

Speeds are a lot higher out of town.  In big cities where the cars are typically doing 15 to 20mph there is a lot more time to react, and even if a collision does happen it's unlikely to have nearly as bad results.

JohnnyPlectrum

lloyd said:

JohnnyPlectrum said:

I can't help thinking it's a war out there - I've really never known anything quite like it and it seems to be getting worse.
I don't think I go for a ride these days without experiencing some sort of incident, in most of which the cyclist is blameless.
I'm not sure it's the naughty, pavement dwelling, red-light jumpers that are being mown down though - it's the serious cyclists.


Can you back any of that up or is it just your feelings on the matter based on your own experiences?

There's twats on both sides of the coin, some days the good ones will be the bad ones and vice versa, sometimes the twats are just normal people making mistakes.

Surely my feelings based on my own experiences IS backing it up?
I don't see many 'mistakes' and most of my riding is rural semi-rural with occasional town outskirts.
Usually the aggression is the simple hurling of abuse or the occasional hurling of random car objects like cans, sweets, rubbish etc.
The favourite is the leant-on horn followed by the punishment-pass. The scariest though is the hung-out driver caught in a diminishing gap due to a central reservation or poor overtake. 
Undoubtedly both sides has its twats but the distribution is somewhat skewed IMO.

lloyd

JohnnyPlectrum said:

lloyd said:

JohnnyPlectrum said:

I can't help thinking it's a war out there - I've really never known anything quite like it and it seems to be getting worse.
I don't think I go for a ride these days without experiencing some sort of incident, in most of which the cyclist is blameless.
I'm not sure it's the naughty, pavement dwelling, red-light jumpers that are being mown down though - it's the serious cyclists.


Can you back any of that up or is it just your feelings on the matter based on your own experiences?

There's twats on both sides of the coin, some days the good ones will be the bad ones and vice versa, sometimes the twats are just normal people making mistakes.

Surely my feelings based on my own experiences IS backing it up?
I don't see many 'mistakes' and most of my riding is rural semi-rural with occasional town outskirts.
Usually the aggression is the simple hurling of abuse or the occasional hurling of random car objects like cans, sweets, rubbish etc.
The favourite is the leant-on horn followed by the punishment-pass. The scariest though is the hung-out driver caught in a diminishing gap due to a central reservation or poor overtake. 
Undoubtedly both sides has its twats but the distribution is somewhat skewed IMO.

Personal experience means close to nothing on a subject like this-even if you're cycling 60 miles a day to work then off on the weekend, you're hitting the same roads at the same times every day, so you've little to no view on other cities, towns, rural, urban etc

Your initial language suggests a bias towards the cyclists and away from the motorists too.

Personally I don't think the "them and us" stance people (not saying you) does anyone any favours, it's stupid.

To split people by what mode of transport they use into whether they are good road users or not is stupid, you might as well split them by skin colour, left/right handed, favourite colour or football team.

The only stats that are important is that when the shit hits the fan, regardless of who's at fault, you're better off being in a car than on a bike/motorbike.

I speak as a car driver and a cyclist too here, I've not agenda to pursue.

thermionic

CabbageCat said:

Most bike deaths (no stats...just something I heard) are caused by big vehicles because they can't see cyclists pulling alongside them. It's also disproportionately women because they are littler so they fit into blind spots better and they generally obey the rules of the road better so are more likely to wait at lights and get mashed when pulling away.

Not saying that happened with Mrs B, but if it was then I sympathise with the driver. I don't know what one would be expected to do in that situation. They should have stickers on the passenger doors saying, "Dear cyclist. If you are reading this I can't see you. I suggest you don't pull away at the same time as me."

What an utterly pointless post. The accident happened on a roundabout, and if you ride a bike you'll be familiar with car drivers shooting onto roundabouts at high speed without looking. Many roundabouts appear designed to allow cars to enter them without slowing down, which is just crazy. There's one on my way to work which I take a 1.5 mile detour to avoid because I've had too many times when I've been almost run over by someone entering the roundabout at 50mph.

Thoughts with Chris and his family, what an utter tragedy.