Old Street roundabout Junction Of Death.

On Jul 30, 3:30*pm, spindrift wrote:
On Jul 30, 3:15*pm, Daniel Barlow wrote:





Matt B writes:
Daniel Barlow wrote:
Matt B writes:

spindrift wrote:
Personally I've never, even seen an ASL enforced despite their routine
flouting by drivers.
Did you know that it is not necessarily illegal for a motor vehicle to
cross an ASL and stop in the "box", even /after/ the lights have
changed from green?

Yes. *Does this have any relevance at all to spindrift's observation
(with which I concur)?

Yes, if he didn't know that it may inflate his level of perception of
the problem.

No. *

I disagree.

Obviously you disagree, because your goal is to prove how clever you
are by scoring points and attempting to "win" an argument, rather than
to discuss anything in an adult fashion. *Most of us grew out of this
when we were 13.

The line at the start of an ASL is in law a stop line - just like the
line at its far end. *It can easily be observed that most drivers have
no trouble in stopping before the second line, or before the only line
at junctions that don't have an ASL. *Since there is no difference in
the physical construction of the two lines, we can safely say that in
the vast majority of cases it would be no more difficult for them to
stop before the first line if they really wanted to.

In continuous nose-to-tail traffic, what are the chances that the ASL
"box" is empty

About the same as the chance that the junction itself is empty. *If
the junction is full of stopped traffic then I would expect the ASL
box to be full likewise. *But I often see motor vehicles in the ASL
when the junction and the road beyond are clear (i.e. there is _not_
continuous note-to-tail traffic), so your excuse really doesn't work.
And I frequently see motorbikes filter through stopped traffic to
arrive in the ASL - your excuse doesn't apply to them either.

So are you suggesting that there could possibly be /another/ cause of
collisions in town - I'd keep quiet about that around here. ;-)

I don't think I'm going to draw down much fire on myself by asserting
that many - probably even most - collisions in town are caused by
poor, inattentive, arrogant or selfish road users.

-dan- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Nasty account from the London Fixed Gear forum:

Hello,

First of all I'd like to give a huge thanks to everyone who has sent
and posted their condolencies to me over the last week. I would be on
the forum more but I find the whole internet from my hospital bed a
bit too cumbersome so I will wait until i come out before becoming an
active member again.

For all that don't know me I had only recently become a member of the
lfgss having 'graduated' up to a fixed from my MTB that I had been
commuting to & fro to work on, accident free for about four years. I
had been to a couple of drinks, in central & east & found everyone I
met really friendly and accepting of a 'newbie'.

Anyway to cut a long story short, at about 0745 last Wednesday
morning, I was heading West over Old St roundabout when a lorry
travelling South hit me from behind, drove over my lower legs and
stopped on top of my bike. I know this from being in the unenviable
position of watching it happen.

I must be the luckiest man alive as U an sitting here in Hospital with
no broken bones apart from my big toe! I do however have crush
injuries to my lower leg muscles and both legs resemble a big jigsaw
puzzle after extensive plastic surgery yesterday.

Flashbacks are becoming less but that is possibly because I haven't
seen any roads since. I really do plan to get back into the saddle as
soon as I can, but I would imagine my bike isn't going to work very
well, so I'll be looking for something cheap if anyone can
help........anyway, few weeks off yet.

I haven't spoken to the police yet, it should be happening in the next
couple of days. By all accounts it sounds quite positive they have
pretty comprehensive CCTV and two eyewitnesses, one of them a biker. I
know this is quite controversial at the moment from recent threads but
the driver isn't English, he is Eastern European. Does this make a
difference? Who knows?

Thats all really, just thanks for all your support especially a huge
drink bike of his choosing, to Casper Caspar who very kindly offered
to come in to Hospital and tanscribe my **** handwriting onto the net
for you. I hope to catch up with you all in a few weeks on my new
steed along with a few interesting scars to show off!

Ride safe everyone

Twooo
(Rich)- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

And another from June this year, I don't know if it's the same one:


A CYCLIST suffered horrific injuries and may lose his leg after being
struck by a lorry in a horror collision at "the most dangerous
junction in Islington".

The 30-year-old was hit by a heavy goods vehicle at Old Street
Roundabout in Finsbury during the height of rush hour yesterday
(Wednesday) morning. He was taken to the Royal Free Hospital with leg
wounds that police describe as "potentially life changing." Traffic
jams went back to the Angel and Pentonville Road.

The Gazette has previously reported that cyclists view the roundabout
as a death trap - with a cyclist left paralysed after

breaking his back at the spot two months ago. The latest accident has
led to fresh calls for action before someone is killed.

John Ackers, of Islington Cyclists' Action Group, said: "This is a
horrific injury. We are very sorry for the cyclist and hope that he
fully recovers. It is definitely one of the most dangerous junctions
in Islington - I can't think of any roundabout that is more dangerous.
There are three lanes of traffic and it is very difficult for cyclists
to move between them. Any measure to reduce traffic speed and volume
on the roundabout would make it safer."


http://www.islingtongazette.co.uk/co...A57%3A03%3A050