Woman run over by lorry in Notting Hill Gate

flamite

not cool...

A cyclist was killed yesterday in Notting Hill Gate after being run over by a lorry.

30-year-old Eilidh Cairns died in hospital hours after the accident at the juntion with Pembridge Road at 8.58am yesterday morning.

"It appears the cyclist had gone under the front wheels of the lorry," said a Kensington and Chelsea police spokeswoman.

London Fire Brigade cut the woman free of the vehicle and she was taken to the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel. She died at 10.49am.

The driver of the lorry has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and was yesterday interviewed at Chelsea Police Station in Lucas Place, Chelsea.

After the accident, roads were closed, buses diverted and cordons put in place until 1.30pm.

Next of kin have been informed and an inquest will be opened at Westminster Coroner's Court in Horseferry Road, Pimlico.

http://www.londoninformer.co.uk/london- ... -22870974/

iain_j

Fark :shock: That's bloody awful.

Kenjaja1

How terribly sad.

flattythehurdler

I hate the "cyclist went under the front wheels" official line. Why don't they say thet the lorry drove over her. FFFFFecccckkkk. Someone went to work on her bike and is now dead. FFFFecccckkkk.

Tiny Explosions

She's the GF of a guy over on the londonfgss forum, and it's left all the community there pretty shaken too. Never nice when you discover a link like that

don_don

Horrible

lost_in_thought

flattythehurdler wrote:

I hate the "cyclist went under the front wheels" official line. Why don't they say thet the lorry drove over her.

That's exactly what I thought. The other thing I thought is that that's bloomin horrendous.

At least they arrested the driver.

gert_lush

biondino

lost_in_thought wrote:

flattythehurdler wrote:

I hate the "cyclist went under the front wheels" official line. Why don't they say thet the lorry drove over her.

That's exactly what I thought. The second thing I thought is that that's bloomin horrendous.

At least they arrested the driver.

Not quite sure what you're upset about - the opening line of the report is "A cyclist was killed yesterday in Notting Hill Gate after being run over by a lorry."

How terrible. All my sympathies.

lost_in_thought

biondino wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

flattythehurdler wrote:

I hate the "cyclist went under the front wheels" official line. Why don't they say thet the lorry drove over her.

That's exactly what I thought. The second thing I thought is that that's bloomin horrendous.

At least they arrested the driver.

Not quite sure what you're upset about - the opening line of the report is "A cyclist was killed yesterday in Notting Hill Gate after being run over by a lorry."

How terrible. All my sympathies.

It's probably an overreaction, but it's the fact that the cyclist is in the nominative/subjective. It annoys me, not in a pedantic way, but because the underlying implication of that choice of sentence structure is that the cyclist was somehow at fault.

As I said, probably an overreaction.

downfader

Theres an inquest going on here in hampshire I read of today where a lorry driver claimed he looked and saw no cyclist, despite a witness descrbing the victim lit up like a christmas tree:

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/4107946 ... s_crushed/

I do kind of think the same at times to LiT, why not let us hear it as it is, dont sugar coat things. These two items dont seem to do that as bad thankfully.

il_principe

So Fcuking tragic.

RIP Eilidh

T.Urn

not cool!!!
Eilidh was beautiful, vibrant woman who loved cycling. The lorry driver has been arrested for dangerous driving- how dangerous is Notting Hill Gate!!!? Surely there must be something that can be fitted to a lorry cab that enables them to see a cyclist in close proximity. The Mayor of London rides a bike- what is he going to do about the continued death rate of cyclists in his city?

greg66_tri_v2.0

Very sad.

I wonder why an accident in Notting Hill ends up in Whitechapel though. Surely Queen Marys would have been a lot closer.

Gavin Gilbert

Greg66 wrote:

Very sad.

I wonder why an accident in Notting Hill ends up in Whitechapel though. Surely Queen Marys would have been a lot closer.

Air ambulance no doubt.

From some of the comments on Londonfgss I think I've seen the poor woman a few times. This is the 14th cyclist death on my commuting route in 16 years, and I struggle to think of any that haven't involved a lorry.

Very sad, my thoughts are with eveyone who knew and loved her.

Christophe3967

This is so very sad and no words can adequately convey one's feelings at a time such as this. The fact that the driver has been arrested is little consolation.

I think most cyclists are aware of the danger posed by lorries and the importance of giving them a wide berth, not undertaking etc. Its so difficult to make eye contact with the drivers so you never really know if they've seen you. Personally I am very wary of the 3663 and other large white delivery lorries which generally seem to be driven in pretty cavalier fashion. Not sure what else can be done - the police have been fairly proactive in this area - apart from hoping that they really clamp down on mobile phone use while driving, which is still widespread.

RIP

Clever Pun

Tiny Explosions wrote:

She's the GF of a guy over on the londonfgss forum, and it's left all the community there pretty shaken too. Never nice when you discover a link like that

yeah I felt a little sick when reading it over there.... horrible thing to happen

buspassenger

I'm not a cyclist but have found this site because I happened to to on a bus that stopped right next to this terrible incident just after it happened and it has haunted me ever since.

I'm not sure the 'officiial line' and its statement that she 'went under' is in any way meant to suggest she was to blame. It did look inexplicable, her bike was several yards behind her and the truck and didn't look to be badly damaged, so I think perhaps the phrasing is more an example of uncertainty as to what precisely happened rather than to imply it was in any way her fault.

Certainly all the emergency services were doing everything possible to help her and I am sure they would not wish to apportion any sort of blame.

I hope that justice is done and send my heartfelt condolences to her family and friends.

buspassenger

I'm not a cyclist but have found this site because I happened to to on a bus that stopped right next to this terrible incident just after it happened and it has haunted me ever since.

I'm not sure the 'officiial line' and its statement that she 'went under' is in any way meant to suggest she was to blame. It did look inexplicable, her bike was several yards behind her and the truck and didn't look to be badly damaged, so I think perhaps the phrasing is more an example of uncertainty as to what precisely happened rather than to imply it was in any way her fault.

Certainly all the emergency services were doing everything possible to help her and I am sure they would not wish to apportion any sort of blame.

I hope that justice is done and send my heartfelt condolences to her family and friends.

moonio

[rant]
Jesus Christ!
And there was me thinking that due to the credit crunch we would see fewer lorries on the roads making them a bit safer for other road users.

Its quite frankly barbaric to have such unsafe vehicles on the roads. The sheer scale and weight of a lorry should make it illegal to be on the road due to the magnitude of the blind spots.

You would have thought that by now there would be a law forcing all lorry drivers to install adequate observation devices to compensate for the vehicle's design flaws.

But OH No, that would be so uneconomic, time consuming and troublesome for the manufactures and drivers so lets just allow them to plow down anything that gets in the way!!!

[/rant}

b0y1nterupted

moonio wrote:

You would have thought that by now there would be a law forcing all lorry drivers to install adequate observation devices to compensate for the vehicle's design flaws.

But OH No, that would be so uneconomic, time consuming and troublesome for the manufactures and drivers so lets just allow them to plow down anything that gets in the way!!!

no you would have thought that before going on a rant someone would have checked up on the new legislation reference mirrors on trucks.....

& the fact that they are having to retrofit mirrors to decrease their blingspots which is at the operators cost....

buspassenger

Sorry if I am reapeating myself, having trouble submitting my posts as a new poster.

My last doesn't seem to have appeared but what I said was, the awful irony was that the lorry was not a big commercial lorry, it was an old open bed truck that seemed to be transporting grit and salt, no doubt in a late response to the all London's council's being totally unprepared for last week's snow.

Mr_Cellophane

lost_in_thought wrote:

At least they arrested the driver.

That is fairly standard where someone dies.

buspassenger

It will be interesting to hear what the driver has to say re the safety of his vehicle and also, if as I suspect, he had been enaged or contracted by a council or some privatised third party to carry grit/sat to either to Kensington or Hammersmith Council, what they have to say about the quality of their suppliers, given how much they bang on about Heatjh and Safety

gmmitche

The cyclist who died is my little sister. We don't know what happened yet, and may never know fully. But she lived her short life to the full, and was very happy - with a new job about to start, wth a blossoming relationship and with a loving family. Just last week, she was snowboarding with friends on the Heath - that's the kind of person she was.

Please be aware that the family are reading this bulletin board when you comment.

Feltup

I am really sorry for your loss. It sounds like your sister lived life to the full. I am sure her spirit will live on with all your family.

jedster

My condolences. Difficult to find the right words but I just wish you and your family all the best as you deal with such an awful time.

J

AdiMac

I'm so sorry hear about your loss, I can't begin to think how you are all feeling.

The thoughts of my family are with yours

Ramekin

gmmitche,

so very sorry to hear the tragic news

i can't begin to imagine what you are all going through but my thoughts are with you and your family

rustncogs

That's chilling.

My heart goes out to the family and friends.

It seems so crazy that someone should die from an accident at city speeds. I think surely it's time something really radical was done given the series of similar tragedies. Perhaps a serious look at how commercial vehicles are designed with a view to pedestrian / cyclist safety.

That's a truly awful thing to happen.

rustncogs

That's chilling.

My heart goes out to the family and friends.

It seems so crazy that someone should die from an accident at city speeds. I think surely it's time something really radical was done given the series of similar tragedies. Perhaps a serious look at how commercial vehicles are designed with a view to pedestrian / cyclist safety.

That's a truly awful thing to happen.