I have been in two minds about whether to blog this on here since Monday because its something that happenned in a different part of London, but its affected me having been on the fringes of it and hey this is my blog after all.Its increasingly relevant to Shepherd's Bush anyway - the safety of the ever growing number of cyclists on our roads.
On monday morning I came out of Stockwell tube as normal on my way to work. I actually stopped to marvel at the crowd of cyclists at the junction - for some reason, probably the fact that south London doesnt have a very good tube network, they have absolutely loads of morning cyclists down there. Much more than north of the river.
One of those cyclists never made it to the office that day though. no more than about 5 minutes later at 0835 she was dragged under the wheels of a lorry turning left and tragically died outside Oval tube. I had heard many more police sirens than normal and so logged into a local blog down there I use sometimes, only to find this. Her name was Catriona and tributes have been paid to her on a London cyclists discussion site here.
I ride around W12 quite a lot doing local errands and just getting around and although we have plenty of crap drivers it usually seems fairly safe. But every morning leaving the gym and crossing the road to get to Bush tube I wonder at those cyclists actually using the Shepherd's Bush roundabout - its got 4 lanes for crying out loud!
If people are going to be that foolhardy then I guess there's not much you can do but should we not have some kind of green lane for cyclists at least on both sides of the Green?
WEDNESDAY UPDATE: Several of you have been in touch to point me to this cyclist incident map for H&F - it is truly unbelievable. "Incidents" involving cyclists are represented by blue dots across the borough. Yuo can barely see a single road that doesnt have blue dots.
THURSDAY UPDATE: The partner of the lorry driver involved in the fatal accident has posted a very personal and moving statement on a cyclist blog. It reads as follows: "My partner was the driver of the lorry which was in the accident on monday where sadly a woman cyclist died. I have read all the posts about this and some have been quite upsetting as a lot of comments have been way off the mark. My partner had not been drinking all night, he was safely tucked up in bed at 9pm watching TV with a cup of tea. He is an experienced HGV driver of 20 years and has never had an accident. The cyclist came up on his left side and has said he simply did not see her, he did check his mirror but she was in his blind spot. I have researched this and a lot of accidents have happenned this way. He was arrested, this would be normal practice after an accident of this nature, the police are now conducting an investigation. He is traumatised and our lives will never be the same again. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family at this terrible time." Full post here.
FRIDAY UPDATE - Tonight's Standard carries a moving tribute to his wife from Catriona's husband here. This has dominated my thoughts for the week, hence lack of postings on other subjects. Hope you understand.
12 JULY UPDATE - Catriona's family have set up this charity fundraising site in her memory www.justgiving.com/anish-patel/
If you're reading this soon after I've posted, 9pm on saturday, and you're in the Bush you won't need telling that we have just had some very spectacular weather. I have only ever seen that sort of storm on my trips abroad to 
The Department of Health have just issued 
Bentworth Primary School in Bentworth Road Shepherd's Bush has confirmed two cases of swine flu this week.