VIDEO: London mayor nearly killed on cycle while doing recon for new city bike routes
Click above and scroll down to watch the video
On AutoblogGreen, we regularly promote the idea of parking your car and using an alternative form of transportation whenever it's practical. For those living in urban environments, cycling is a common and often faster approach compared to driving, and congested cities the world over have been working to make it more viable in recent years. One of those cities is London, England which has been battling traffic through such means as a congestion charge.
Unfortunately for those that opt for pedal power, a great many cars and trucks will remain on the road for the foreseeable future. That means cycling may be more environmentally friendly but it's also very risky. London mayor Boris Johnson learned this the hard way this week while scoping out locations for new bike lanes in the British capital. A truck that looks like it might have been going too fast down a narrow street, very nearly triggered a fatal accident with the mayor and the British transport minister. Hopefully this will trigger the mayor to crack down on truck safety rather than bike lanes. You can check out the entire incident as recorded by one of the thousands of closed circuit TV cameras that line the city streets after the jump. Hat tip to John R.
[Source: Guardian]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Organic 8:49AM (5/25/2009)
Wow great video Im going to guess the chain on the door that came open grabed the car? Or did the door some how grab the car? That must have but a sub sub compact it picked it right up.
Reply
Mark 8:52AM (5/25/2009)
That truck driver was crazy, did you see him flashing his lights at the cyclists? He was going way to fast, he could probably loose his licence due to this.
Reply
Jon 9:11AM (5/25/2009)
He didn't flash his lights - it was a bump in the road.
I'm amazed that not only did he drag a whole car across the road, the door appeared to be undamaged. Incredible.
Reply
Tim 9:13AM (5/25/2009)
What's Red and Green and pushes up daisies?
Reply
Phat 11:23AM (5/26/2009)
It seems like the door caught the car and drag it. Look how close the dragged car came to hit the 3rd parked car. That guy was lucky.
Reply
GoodCheer 9:47AM (5/25/2009)
Two things:
By time, cycling is safer than driving. In fact your chances of dying during an hour spent cycling are lower than your chances of dying in any random hour of your life.
The proposal is not for a 'bike lane' as we know them in the US, it's for a biking route that would be separated from traffic, and from small cars being randomly flung about.
Reply
victor 11:28AM (5/25/2009)
americans take note
Other countries polilitians are going out and doing these kinds of studies on there own rather than payinh some BS company to pussE foot around it.
Reply
Shame. 9:37PM (5/25/2009)
Our elected dumb asses at least know if we caught them pulling this stunt there would be people actually gunning for them. I know I'd be waiting for that dumb ass coming around the corner, whoops, no breaks.
Aaron 12:04PM (5/25/2009)
Entirely the truck driver's fault there. I used to drive truck and have a CDL and can tell you that he obviously hit that speed bump WAY too fast, didn't have his cargo doors secured properly, etc. At least he kept the truck on the road. I'm surprised that car he picked up didn't get thrown into any of the bikers. Why does he then waste all that effort trying to re-close the cargo doors? What's the point of that unless he's trying to hide evidence?
Anyway, the driver should be cited for speeding and possibly reckless driving. There's no excuse for a professional driver to endanger others with his own stupidity.
Reply
Chris M 8:38PM (5/25/2009)
Exactly. Reviewing that clip made it obvious that the truck was carrying a car in the bed, unsecured, and the rear doors were not really strong enough to contain the car when the load shifted. Result, the doors swung open and hit another car, then the car the truck was carrying fell out the back! Bad news all around.
But the really bad news for that soon to be ex-lorry driver is that it was all caught on video, and since a big name celebrity was almost involved, that video was spread all around the net.
CH 10:48AM (5/26/2009)
Not entirely correct. The Truck was empty and the car that you saw at the end was parked on the curb. Due to the speed bump, the doors opened and somehow hooked on the parked car, catapulting it into the cyclists and back to the curb (must be a very tough door/hinges/door latch).
But yeah, speed bumps are there to slow down before you pass them and he went clearly too fast over it, which caused the door to open and all this mess to happen.
Ernie 1:45PM (5/25/2009)
This is an utterly unremarkable incident except that it happened to the mayor of London.
And this is why I say that human beings should not be allowed to drive cars and trucks. Yes, this driver was at fault. But people are people, and more than likely he was just daydreaming of girls or something - you know, the usual sort of thing that, when not behind the wheel of several tons of dangerous kinetic energy, wouldn't harm a fly.
Reply
Matt 3:04PM (5/25/2009)
I'm not sure that the lorry driver's actual *driving* is at fault here - had the door not flung open it would not have been unusual driving. It could have been an accident from the door opening by accident, or it could have been the driver's fault for not securing the door properly.
Anyway - the wonders of the internet gives you the reverse angle from Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/beatnic/tags/borisjohnson/
Reply
Phil L. 9:18PM (5/25/2009)
Chris M. -
> Exactly. Reviewing that clip made it obvious that the truck was carrying a car in the bed, unsecured...
No, watch it again: The car was parked in the street, and was snagged by the unsecured door. The truck wasn't carrying the car.
Reply
toi 11:12AM (5/26/2009)
The best part is what the driver does with his time after the crash - close the doors.
Reply
John 1:17PM (5/26/2009)
Going too fast for the road conditions.. not securing the rear doors properly.. trying to pass the cyclists and few inches away from the parked vehicles that looks scarey and i'm surprised he didn't harm anybody.
I had been driving for more than 20 years and the thing that worries me the most is passing a cyclist. Whenever possible i always give a full lane in a multi-lane highway to a cyclist or any slow moving vehicle while being alert and with caution!
Reply