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Post by Swadbus on Apr 3, 2013 2:51:01 GMT
From BBC London website: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-22000276London buses 'hit two pedestrians or cyclists a day' More than 3,500 pedestrians and 1,200 cyclists have been struck by buses in London since 2007 There are two incidents of buses hitting pedestrians or cyclists in London each day on average, figures show. Buses have hit 3,591 pedestrians and 1,219 cyclists since 2007, Transport for London said. It said the number of incidents was falling and only 5% of cycle collisions were "serious". Conservative London Assembly Member Roger Evans said the figures were "shockingly high". Mr Evans, who raised the issue of road safety in the London Assembly, urged TfL and the police to do more. He said: "If any other organisation had a similar road safety record I think we would be asking many more tough questions." The data was obtained through a Freedom of Information request made by Tom Kearney, a cyclist who suffered life-threatening injuries after being struck by a bus in Oxford Street in December 2009. Punctured lungs The entrepreneur, a US citizen who lives in London, was in a coma for two weeks after sustaining severe brain injuries and punctured lungs. He was in hospital for three months and said his injuries left him unable to work for two years. Mr Kearney said: "The figure is very small for TfL because it did not happen to them, but it is very, very large for the families of those that have been killed and injured." He said he wanted to see fewer buses in busy areas like the West End. "The bendy bus that hit me was going at 20mph... the first thing it [TfL] could do is to slow the buses down. We need to reduce buses or pedestrianise most areas." TfL's figures show in 2007-08 buses struck 860 pedestrians and 274 cyclists, while in the past financial year 449 incidents involving pedestrians and 107 with cyclists were reported. London buses were also involved in 161 collisions with mopeds and motorbikes last year and in 2,365 instances the vehicles struck street furniture, a building or a tree. Mike Weston, operations director of London Buses at TfL, said the figures were "very small" when compared with the six million journeys undertaken in London every day. He said: "Bus operators are required to report all incidents to us and many of those highlighted are very minor with no injury at all." He said TfL was not complacent and was trying to improve driving standards. Cycle-bus collisions 2007: 274 2008: 272 2009: 233 2010: 198 2011: 135 2012: 107 Pedestrian-bus collisions 2007: 860 2008: 744 2009: 532 2010: 470 2011: 536 2012: 449
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Post by John tuthill on Apr 3, 2013 8:48:31 GMT
From BBC London website: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-22000276London buses 'hit two pedestrians or cyclists a day' More than 3,500 pedestrians and 1,200 cyclists have been struck by buses in London since 2007 There are two incidents of buses hitting pedestrians or cyclists in London each day on average, figures show. Buses have hit 3,591 pedestrians and 1,219 cyclists since 2007, Transport for London said. It said the number of incidents was falling and only 5% of cycle collisions were "serious". Conservative London Assembly Member Roger Evans said the figures were "shockingly high". Mr Evans, who raised the issue of road safety in the London Assembly, urged TfL and the police to do more. He said: "If any other organisation had a similar road safety record I think we would be asking many more tough questions." The data was obtained through a Freedom of Information request made by Tom Kearney, a cyclist who suffered life-threatening injuries after being struck by a bus in Oxford Street in December 2009. Punctured lungs The entrepreneur, a US citizen who lives in London, was in a coma for two weeks after sustaining severe brain injuries and punctured lungs. He was in hospital for three months and said his injuries left him unable to work for two years. Mr Kearney said: "The figure is very small for TfL because it did not happen to them, but it is very, very large for the families of those that have been killed and injured." He said he wanted to see fewer buses in busy areas like the West End. "The bendy bus that hit me was going at 20mph... the first thing it [TfL] could do is to slow the buses down. We need to reduce buses or pedestrianise most areas." TfL's figures show in 2007-08 buses struck 860 pedestrians and 274 cyclists, while in the past financial year 449 incidents involving pedestrians and 107 with cyclists were reported. London buses were also involved in 161 collisions with mopeds and motorbikes last year and in 2,365 instances the vehicles struck street furniture, a building or a tree. Mike Weston, operations director of London Buses at TfL, said the figures were "very small" when compared with the six million journeys undertaken in London every day. He said: "Bus operators are required to report all incidents to us and many of those highlighted are very minor with no injury at all." He said TfL was not complacent and was trying to improve driving standards. Cycle-bus collisions 2007: 274 2008: 272 2009: 233 2010: 198 2011: 135 2012: 107 Pedestrian-bus collisions 2007: 860 2008: 744 2009: 532 2010: 470 2011: 536 2012: 449 It would be interesting to see a breakdown as follows: a) How many pedestrians were jay walking? I've had pedestrians run in front of a bus to get to Richmond Station, you drive(in a car for me) knowing that there's an accident waiting to happen. I've been in Copenhagen and watched the pedestrians waiting for 'the green light' even though no traffic was approaching. (I got told off for crossing on the red! ) b) How many cyclists ignore the highway code, especially when any vehicle is waiting to turn left? c) How many pedestrians and cyclists will admit any accident was there fault?
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Post by M1104 on Apr 3, 2013 9:30:33 GMT
Also I have had cyclist suddenly appear out of nowhere from behind my bus (from the blind spot) when I am pulling out from bus stops. Whenever I cycle, which is rarely, I always approach the bus from behind in full view of the drivers offside mirror if I am attempting to overtake (or the near side mirror if I am attempting to wait for him to pull away).
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Post by RM5chris on Apr 3, 2013 9:35:33 GMT
"The bendy bus that hit me was going at 20mph... the first thing it [TfL] could do is to slow the buses down. We need to reduce buses or pedestrianise most areas." Really? What should all buses be doing a constant 10mph? Stay just above the 3mph light? (Do they still have those on modern buses or is it only older ones with the stop flags RMs, Ms etc)?
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Post by vjaska on Apr 3, 2013 9:45:23 GMT
That American dude is a clear idiot. He says TfL should reduce buses in the West End & pedestrianise more area's. So by that, basically he wants people to overcrowd the Underground so it comes to a standstill. The recession has also showed us that many pedestrian town centres have suffered because it can be a nightmare finding a space anywhere near the shops. In fact, one town up North actually removed its pedestrian restriction during shopping hours because of this.
The cyclists are the real menaces of the road. From my own experience, I've nearly been knocked down by a cyclist more times than by a car.
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Post by snoggle on Apr 3, 2013 10:05:36 GMT
The problem with these statistics is that the reason they were requested was from someone who has a very large axe to grind. He clearly suffered a dreadful accident but he wants to wreck the effectiveness of the bus network by slowing buses to a crawl or banning them from streets altogether.
The problem is that far too many people may no attention whatsover to traffic or even other pedestrians. I have lost count of the amount of times people just barge into me because they can't be bothered to look where they are going. I'm not exactly invisible ;D. It's no wonder that people want out into the road and are struck by buses if they can't walk down a pavement without walking into people.
I broadly support cycling but there seems to be two groups of cyclists who are very vulnerable. One is the minority who just flout all the rules and ride as they please. I do not see how a bus driver could possibly be expected to react to every unpredictable move by such road users. The other group is novice cyclists who do not have sufficient road sense or hazard awareness. Their cycling behaviour is likely to be erratic and again is hard to predict. The first group need to have the road rules enforced against them and the second group needs training and mentoring.
There may be a tiny, tiny proportion of bus drivers who may not drive properly. Ideally they should not be driving. However the majority are very professional and have a thankless task in trying conditions. The person behind the request for these numbers seems unwilling to appreciate that. He prefers to slag off the entire bus system by inferring that every "strike" results in an injury which is not at all what the figures say. If we are going to have a debate then it needs to be done rationally and sensibly.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2013 10:47:36 GMT
I wonder how many pedestrians or cyclists are hit by taxi's every day?
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Post by rambo on Apr 3, 2013 17:19:11 GMT
I would like to see the percentage breakdown of who was at fault.
A few years back I read somewhere that 83% of RTC's involving pedestrians and vehciles, it was the pedestrians fault.
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Post by John tuthill on Apr 3, 2013 17:36:31 GMT
I would like to see the percentage breakdown of who was at fault. A few years back I read somewhere that 83% of RTC's involving pedestrians and vehciles, it was the pedestrians fault. someone else with the same opinion
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Post by guybowden on Apr 3, 2013 17:36:52 GMT
If every road user (on and off wheels) was more patient with each other accidents, collisions and minor bumps would fall. Also if every road user re read the highway and followed the highway code this would also help numbers fall.
Taxi and mini cab drivers need to be more regulated and accountable for their driving because the amount of times I see near misses, them skipping lights, turning at junctions when they shouldn't is outrageous. If bus drivers were to drive like them then you will be going through bus drivers quicker then the days go by.
The bloke who has requested this information has not taken into account how many buses there are in London and how many of these accidents are 'avoidable' and how many accidents were not the bus drivers fault. He also needs to request the same information for accidents involving lorries/HGVs, taxis/mini cabs and cars so you can set a yard stick to compare.
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Post by ServerKing on Apr 3, 2013 17:45:38 GMT
"The bendy bus that hit me was going at 20mph... the first thing it [TfL] could do is to slow the buses down. We need to reduce buses or pedestrianise most areas." Really? What should all buses be doing a constant 10mph? Stay just above the 3mph light? (Do they still have those on modern buses or is it only older ones with the stop flags RMs, Ms etc)? (shudders at thought of slower buses) its bad enough those idiots at Islington council have made all main roads (save for the A1 by Archway) 20 mph zones. The guy hit by the bendy probably ignored the bus (thats the good old compensation culture brought over from the States ) thinking it will stop for him. He can now look foward to near-silent hybrids to ignore next time he's on the road... Perhaps we can trial a man walking in front of each bus with a flag on the 38 as a trial Sent from my GT-I9100 using proboards
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Post by mre81 on Apr 3, 2013 21:21:03 GMT
I watched a cyclist accelerate to try and overtake a 24 that was indicating and pulling (slowly) away from its stop on Charing X Rd this morning.
Quite frankly, in central London, a large proportion of cyclists are a bloody menace. I've lost count of the amount of time I've come close to being run down by them jumping lights, riding straight though pedestrian crossings, the wrong way down one way streets etc etc. Now I stand my ground, and if they don't like it, more often than not, they'll get called a cu*t!
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Post by IanF on Apr 3, 2013 21:49:08 GMT
I watched a cyclist accelerate to try and overtake a 24 that was indicating and pulling (slowly) away from its stop on Charing X Rd this morning. Quite frankly, in central London, a large proportion of cyclists are a bloody menace. I've lost count of the amount of time I've come close to being run down by them jumping lights, riding straight though pedestrian crossings, the wrong way down one way streets etc etc. Now I stand my ground, and if they don't like it, more often than not, they'll get called a cu*t! Militant cyclists are a big bunch in London and I have more than once been run over by them once it was spotted by a police officer and the cyclist blamed me but failed to realise that jumping a red light in front of a police officer isn't a great idea. I also witnessed a collision bus versus cycle in the same place and the cyclist had jumped the traffic lights and the bus had no chance of not hitting the cyclist. I think that cyclists should be licenced like other road users as if a complete fool can ride on roads its pathetic.
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Post by ServerKing on Apr 3, 2013 22:08:51 GMT
I watched a cyclist accelerate to try and overtake a 24 that was indicating and pulling (slowly) away from its stop on Charing X Rd this morning. Quite frankly, in central London, a large proportion of cyclists are a bloody menace. I've lost count of the amount of time I've come close to being run down by them jumping lights, riding straight though pedestrian crossings, the wrong way down one way streets etc etc. Now I stand my ground, and if they don't like it, more often than not, they'll get called a cu*t! Militant cyclists are a big bunch in London and I have more than once been run over by them once it was spotted by a police officer and the cyclist blamed me but failed to realise that jumping a red light in front of a police officer isn't a great idea. I also witnessed a collision bus versus cycle in the same place and the cyclist had jumped the traffic lights and the bus had no chance of not hitting the cyclist. I think that cyclists should be licenced like other road users as if a complete fool can ride on roads its pathetic. It's amusing seeing these fools trying to race our 243, esp. on stretches like Kingsway in Holborn... D*mn cyclists.... it's a London street, not the last stretch of the Tour de France ;D #nojustno #westopatlightsyouwilltoo #lockthelotup
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Post by rambo on Apr 4, 2013 19:47:55 GMT
Had a driver at my old cab office killed by a cyclist going through a red light.
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