09 April 2009
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| The junction where the tragedy happened |
A CYCLIST crushed by a cement mixer today (Thursday) was the third woman rider to die in such circumstances in the Islington area in two years.
The crash happened at the junction of Goswell Road and Old Street, Finsbury – described by workers as an accident blackspot – at about 9.20am.
The full 32-tonne cement mixer had been attempting to turn left into Goswell Road when the cyclist, a woman in her 30s, was caught on the inside.
Paramedics and firefighters tried to save her, but she was pronounced dead at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel.
Dilek Kocak, 34, the manager at Costa Coffee in Old Street, tried to help the woman as she lay trapped under the back wheels of the lorry.
Ms Kocak said: "She was trying to talk but I couldn’t really hear her. Somebody was holding her hand. Another person was taking her pulse. I felt really helpless. I am a nurse, and there was an off-duty doctor on the scene, but we had no equipment and could not do anything.
"The lorry had a warning sound saying ‘turning left, turning left’ that was still going off. But maybe she didn’t hear it – it’s so noisy here. Her bike was crushed."
A receptionist in Goswell Road also went out in an attempt to administer first aid. The 44-year-old said: "I was only there a couple of minutes before the paramedics turned up. She was extremely badly injured. The driver was distraught."
Firefighters from Clerkenwell fire station cut the bicycle away and managed to get the woman out.
An ambulance crew then took her to the Royal London Hospital in a "serious condition". She was pronounced dead at 10.29am. The roads were closed until shortly before 12.30pm.
In September, community campaigner Lisa Pontecorvo, 64, was crushed as she wheeled her bike in front of a cement lorry in Holloway Road, Holloway.
And in December 2006, cyclist Emma Foa, 56, died after colliding with a left-turning cement mixer in Camley Street, King’s Cross.
Campaigners have long been trying to raise awareness of the dangers of passing left-turning trucks on the inside.
But workers around the Goswell Road-Old Street junction have also said that the crossroads itself needs to be made safer.
Mark Cox, 30, manager of Nusa Kitchen in Old Street, said: "There are lots of accidents here. Two weeks ago a motorcycle and a car collided as the car turned left and the bike went straight."
The Goswell Road receptionist said: "Half the time the lights don’t work, and even when they do the pedestrian crossing lights sometimes don’t work. A few weeks ago, a lady stepped out and she was hit by a motorbike. She is still in hospital. It’s also dangerous for cyclists because it’s so busy."
Ms Kocak added: "This is the most dangerous junction in London. I have been here two years and I have seen or heard of something every other week."
Police investigating the crash arrested a 34-year-old man on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.
Anyone with information should call the Collision Investigation Unit at Euston Traffic Garage on 020 7321 9960.
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