Dont forget the regular cycle around london taking in the sights. Last Friday of every month.
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Fully trained scaffolders?

12.06.06

According to the website, AGS Scaffolding are fully trained, though it seems not in the safe and legal use of the road. The fully laden lorry was spotted traveling west along Theobalds road, blatantly using his mobile phone illegally. We have contacted the comapany and await a response.

Swiftkill... quite possibly!

22.05.06

The driver of this Swiftkill van [reg: LW51 EXK] was spotted chatting happily on his mobile phone with a handsfree, and remaining part of the traffic. We can only presume that the fact that he was somewhat distracted caused him to ignore the stop line at he lights. Once the lights changed he adeptly continued his journey, turning right, changed gear and didn't have to break his conversation. We have contacted swiftkill on mail@swiftkill.co.uk to remind them that using a mobile phone is dangerous and infact illegal; though whilst this law appears not to be enforced, drivers continue to flout it.

Ipod may have contributed to cyclist death

14.02.06

On 2nd February another cyclist was killed after a collision with a Lorry on the streets of London. Australian law student, Patricia McMillan, hit by a lorry whilst riding her bicycle was pronounced dead at the scene. She may have been wearing her ipod att the time of the collision, severely encumbering her awareness of road traffic.

read article here or here

Ambulance driver's hope for the future

5.12.05

During the rush hour traffic today an ambulance driver was spotted using his mobile phone without a hands free set. As photo's were taken the driver wound down his window and asked what the problem was, to which he was informed of the law regarding the use of mobile phones. His reponse was 'I hope you don't need me one day...'[ plus a few non expletives ]. Since drivers using mobiles are are four times more likely to have an accident, we would have to sincerely agree with him.
This ambulance was operated by Barts and the London Trust in order to move their patients around, a single passenger was aboard. We emailed Barts and recieved an incredibly quick response, issueing this statement.

Barts and The London NHS Trust takes allegations that any of its drivers have used a mobile phone while driving very seriously. The Trust is investigating this allegation. It is illegal to use a mobile phone while driving. It is also a disciplinary offence. Trust vehicles are fitted with hands-free kits and drivers are instructed to use these kits if they need to use their mobile phone, in accordance with the law.

Lorry kills cyclist in Clerkenwell

18.11.05

The roads were closed whilst the traffic police collected evidence after a female cyclist was killed on Friday morning by a collision with a yellow tipper lorry, reg mark EU54 WWM, at the junction of Clerkenwell Road and St John Street. According to couriers at Metro Photographic, outside whose office the accident happened,the lorry was westbound on Clerkenwell and made a left turn south onto St John Street. The police spent several hours collecting data on the crash site, during which time the junction remained closed to all traffic.

mirrored from moving target
read the artcle in the Islington Gazette

Time to light up!

Don't be a donut and get yourself down to your local bikeshop, and get yourself some lights. We are in the process of getting as many shops as possible to participate in this campaign, and offer a 10% discount on any lights to anyone with a donutcard. If you have lights already and feel particularly benovolent, then why not carry a spare light and give it to the next cyclist you see without one along with a donutcard. You can download them from our campaigns page.

Ghostcycle

Launch of documenting site
After spotting the original [seattle] project a duplicate site has been set up for London. Ghostcyle.org.uk are documenting road incidents and mapping them onto a googlemap, highlighting hotspots. These hotspots will then have a ghostcylcle placed on the site.

Road Policing Commitment

11 January 2005
A new strategy for policing the roads was today announced by Alistair Darling, Secretary of State for Transport, Home Office Minister Caroline Flint and Richard Brunstrom, Head of Road Policing for the Association of Chief Police Officers.
full press release

Careless drivers to face jail

Drivers who kill while talking on a mobile phone or failing to pay proper attention to the road could face up to five years in jail, and as was made worryingly clear in our mobiling campaign, the amount of people not driving with due care and attention seems to be enourmous, with people doing the most outrageous manouvres in their car.

Ministers have bowed to pressure from bereaved families, campaign groups, police and MPs to introduce a new offence of causing death by careless driving. If a case can be proved, a driver could face up to 14 years in jail. That will close a loophole that often allows motorists who are at fault for a fatal accident to get away with a fine because a more serious charge of manslaughter or dangerous driving is not brought or cannot be upheld. If dangerous driving can be proved, the offender can be jailed for up to 14 years.Last year there were 273 convictions for the more serious offence but prosecutors are often reluctant to bring a case of dangerous driving or manslaughter because of the higher burden of proof needed. The paper proposes another new offence: death resulting from illegal driving - that is disqualified or unlicensed driving - also carrying a five-year jail sentence. In addition, the maximum sentence for dangerous driving would rise from two years to five years in jail.