Boris Johnson, London Mayor, Nearly Killed By Truck While Riding Bike

Guardian:

Footage of Boris Johnson's near miss with a lorry while out cycling shows the London Mayor lucky to be alive.

Read the whole story: Guardian

Comments

[Cycadeoidea]

I do a lot of bike riding, usually off-road, but there are still places where you have to cross heavily trafficked intersections. While most automobile drivers are courteous, there are enough idiots out there to always keep you 100% on your guard.

One of the worst intersections is this one were there is a right turn arrow. For reasons hard to fathom, some drivers assume that if the arrow is green when they're 100 yards away, they're still allowed to run through it even though it's turned red by the time they get to it. Very dangerous.

Sometimes I wish I had a shoulder-mounted missile launcher.

[Meggie]

The video shows that the truck driver is not competent to drive on public roads. All he had to do was lift his foot from the gas pedal and acknowledge others were using the same space, and they'd all gotten there ahead of him. Didn't look very safe to be in that car around this truck driver, either.

[wedgie]

Well that settles it. We all should start driving big trucks. I know, I know, bicycles are better for the environment, but do you really want to die?

I think not.

**

[rf dude]

did he expense his cycle-waxing??
__

[Bitsko]

Lousy lorry drivers.

[Kenji]

Why do they call it a "near miss"?
Isn't it more of a near hit?

[AhnAmuru]

MI 5?

[IMissAmerica]

Holy crap!

[HuffEurope2]

It's great to have a bicycling Mayor
:-)

.... but please try not to kill yourself Boris!

[eposter]

These street cameras and security cameras everywhere are cool. We get to watch plane crashes, car accidents, kidnappings... not just bank robberies and convenient store hold-ups like in the old days.

[UchuKaizoku]

Oh yeah, surveillance cameras are so cool. Here's a great idea. Why don't we give them a friendly name? You know, like Big Brother, for example.

[eposter]

Exactly. So if you got to scratch or pick something remember they're watching you.

[johnr49]

Like 'em or not, London's security cameras assisted in the swift identification of those responsible for the Underground bombings in July, 2005.

[deluk]

I'm a Brit and like most people in Britain I'm unfazed and quite oblivious to the cameras.

The issue in any society which allows surv eillance cameras should be whether or not the
information they gather is abused by the authorities that place them there. I can't think of a single instance where this has happened (and with our rabid press we'd soon hear about it). In fact they're occasionally used by the citizenry to bring the authorities to justice

[wadenelson1]

In the near future there will be "reality" shows consisting of little more than footage of such.

[SharpDressedMan]

I rode bikes in numerous cities of various sizes for commuting or pleasure. I had only one accident with a car and wasn't hurt badly. Statistics show I was lucky for my bike riding years but I was careful.

This shouldn't discourage cyclists. Motorists need to get used to bikes. Gas or petrol as they call it in UK, won't be available for forever. Bikes will outlast petroleum, electric compressed gas, or any other mechanical vehicles.

[larry278]

I guess that Ken Livingston doesn't take losing an election lightly.

[BankerTee]

Haha!

[Poldolino]

I seem to remember a big poster in London saying "Thank you for cycling, yours sincerely, Ken L." Now we know who he was thinking of ;-)

[larry278]

Politics in the UK can be difficult to understand for Americans.
What is this thing about MP's in the House of Commons abusing their expense accounts?

[lovemycountry08]

One of the reasons why lorries should stay away from those tight streets in London. I visit London regularly and have never understood why they let trucks ride on those very very small and narrow streets.

Streets half as small here in the US prohibit trucks from riding on them.

[HuffEurope2]

Most of our are streets are narrow! London grew up organically over hundreds of years; no big wide roads. Good for little cars, bicycles and people .... bad for monster trucks!

[Poldolino]

well that was a crappy truck with some makeshift welded-together container on the back whose door flew open when it went over a speed bump. i like the way the driver just strolled around the back and closed the door, as though it was something he'd had to do 20 times a day. whatever waste collection service he was working for needs to have its vehicle specifications tightened up.

you don't have junk like that collecting the garbage in germany, but of course allowing the EU to make regulations about waste trucks would be an abominable infringement of british sovereignty. they probably negotiated an opt-out clause from some directive or other just so they could keep vehicles of that quality on the streets.

[GothicFairy]

I hope they arrested the truck driver. What a d-bag!

[shockaslim]

You are kidding me right?

[UchuKaizoku]

You wanna give him a medal?

[TParrish]

Unless the driver negligently failed to secure the rear door of the truck, he is not at fault, and is not a d-bag. The story does not explain why the door came open.

[JannielB]

Agree

[deckard70]

You gotta like the way he starts altering the scene of the accident before the cops arrive, shutting the swinging doors that hooked the other car...

[JannielB]

Do you think he may be sort of shaken up? Can you see the possiblity that he is only reacting to this shock and not looking to get away with something?

[Snagge]

The Tories have real problems when it comes to bicycles.

David Cameron keeps having his stolen and Boris can't seem to control his. Mind you, Boris doesn't appear to be able to control most things.

[Chloe33]

Actually you might say that the Tories have a problem with the lorrys.