Father of killed cyclist hits out at danger junction

Crushed: Madeleine Wright was killed by a lorry at the junction of Pentonville Road and Penton Rise, where 22 collisions had occurred in the previous three years

Transport for London's road safety policy was today labelled "unacceptable" by the father of a cyclist killed by a lorry.

Peter Wright said TfL should have taken action at a junction in King's Cross before his daughter Madeleine, 26, was crushed to death there while travelling to work.

Her inquest, held at St Pancras coroner's court, heard there had been 22 collisions at the traffic lights in the three years before Miss Wright's death on 9 March last year.

These were classed as "slight collisions" resulting in minor injuries at worst. They involved nine cyclists and 13 pedestrians.

Coroner Andrew Reid heard Miss Wright died at traffic lights in Pentonville Road at the junction of Penton Rise. She was hit by a 7.5-tonne lorry as it turned left. She died at the Royal London Hospital. Witnesses said they saw another cyclist in front of Miss Wright dart in front of the lorry moments before the accident.

Lorry driver John Humphrey told the inquest he stopped on the right side of the junction to give himself room to turn left.

He said there were no cyclists in the advanced stop box in front of him and the first cyclist moved across him causing him to brake. He said: "It was as if they came from nowhere."

Chris Lines, head of TfL's Road Safety Unit, told the inquest that despite the number of "slight collisions" at the junction it was not deemed a high priority and changes were not made due to budget constraints.

Since Miss Wright's death TfL has altered the junction to make it safer. It is due to introduce a speed camera as well as a crossing for cyclists and pedestrians.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Dr Reid said it was a result of a combination of factors including road layout and a blind spot in Mr Humphrey's mirrors.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in