Another cycle accident in Oval: Cricketer pulls across bus lane hitting cyclist

(Image taken from Precision claims website on 19th August 2011)

The Sun reports a cycle accident in Oval yesterday as England cricketer, Andrew Strauss was involved in a car accident with a passing 25 year old cyclist.  An eye witness estimated that the cyclist was travelling at about 20 miles per hour when he hit Strauss' Jaguar.  According to the Sun, the accident likely wrote off the bicycle in question and left a hefty dent in the car.

Fortunately, neither the driver nor cyclist was injured.  It's not entirely clear from the Sun's article who was at fault, although the Sun does report that Strauss pulled across the bus lane. 

The accident took place not far from Oval station where cyclist Catriona Patel was tragically killed in an accident involving a lorry in June 2009.

I'm trying to keep a close eye on accidents involving pedestrians and cyclists in and around SE11 (Kennington, Oval or Vauxhall and outskirts).  I'd be grateful if readers could leave a comment or inform me on Twitter @SE11_lurker of accidents witnessed in the area.

Serious accident in Kennington at junction of Camberwell New Road / Brixton

A serious accident took place at the junction between Camberwell New Road and Brixton Road just outside Kennington Park Business Centre this evening.  Reports of the incident started to appear just before 6pm.  Traffic ground to a halt and local buses were placed on diversion.

The crash looked to involve three cars in which one car appeared to have entirely mounted a second car.  Fortunately, there were no fatalities, although several people, including a child, were reportedly taken to hospital. The clean up operation was still taking place several hours after the incident.

Accident on Clapham Road outside Oval tube station - injuries sustained not critical

Last night, there was an accident on Clapham Road (almost opposite Oval tube station) involving two motorists and a motorcycle at about 6pm.  Buses were placed on diversion and the road was closed.  Police mentioned to a bystanders that injuries were sustained by all involved, but none of the people involved in the accident are in a critical condition.  There were no fatalities.
There's a brief report (and photo) of the incident over on Wanderlee's blog.

Two Brixton Road cycle accidents and one motorbike accident on Clapham Road

I have no confirmed reports, but Twitter users (and London Fixed-gear & Single Speed forums) are reporting two incidents involving cyclists on Brixton Road.

One incident occurred at approximately 7:20am at the top of Brixton Road/Camberwell New Road (near Oval tube station) and involved a male cyclist, a bus and a petrol tanker. The road was closed for the rest of the morning, but the incident is not reported to have been fatal.

Another accident occured this morning further south on Brixton Road, involving a female cyclist, which is again not reported to have been fatal. Stockwell News mentioned an incident allegedly concerning a cyclist and a lorry (which may be the southern incident). I hope the cyclists did not sustain major injuries.

In addition, another Twitterer/Tweeter/Twitter user (what is the correct noun?) reported an incident involving a motor bike on Clapham Road outside Greggs and Pearl Pharmacy at about 11am this morning. That's down in Stockwell, so I can only refer you to Stockwell News for further information.

I'm particularly concerned about the number of road accidents in and around SE11 at the moment, and further concerned that many of the incidents seem to involve cyclists. (Please don't use my blog to moan about bad cycling. There are bad cyclists and bad drivers and both are to blame). I'd call on TFL to consider segrating the cyclists from the rest of the vehicular traffic, but I know that major arguments exist between cyclists as to whether this is the safest option.

I haven't (and cannot) report all local accidents since many are not serious and do not make the news, but people frequently search Lurking about SE11 for mention of incidents so I can see that they are frequent. I'm fairly certain that there was a road accident on Bowling Green Street yesterday, and I know that there was a road accident on Kennington Road last week, involving a police vehicle. I know that Lambeth Council are investigating the possibility of 20mph zones, but I do not imagine that these would include the major roads (Kennington Park Road/Clapham Road or Kennington Road or Brixton Road or Camberwell New Road) and these seem to be becoming accident hot spots. Does anybody have any further data on accidents or information about the wellbeing of the cyclists mentioned above?

Another accident on Kennington Park Road and accident on Camberwell New Road. Traffic chaos.

There was another accident this evening on Kennington Park Road (just opposite Kennington tube station) at about 19:40, involving three cars, a Volvo, a Renault and another unidentified car.  The driver of the Volvo had to be cut out of the car, and the roof was removed (similar to the accident last week on 30th September).  There were no fatalities, but the accident in SE11 was serious.

Another accident also occurred at some time this evening (approx.18:00) on Camberwell New Road near to Taximedia and the southern entrance of Kennington Business Centre between a motorcyclist and a small car.  A neighbour reported that the motorcyclist flew across a car and on to the pavement.  Unfortunately, the motorcyclist was killed and the fatality has been confirmed by police.  A witness photographed the police's arrival.

Due to the above accidents and another unconfirmed accident in Peckham (possibly this was the one on Albany Road / Urlwin Street), and the earlier accidents in Elephant and Castle (at least one motorcyclist fatality on New Kent Road), buses were diverted and traffic chaos began at 16:00 (estimated time of New Kent Road accident) and is still ongoing late this evening.  There was also a person under a train at Charing Cross, which closed off the Bakerloo line during rush hour, and a gas leak on Kennington Park Road near to Magee Street.  The traffic chaos that ensued caused much of South London to come to a halt.

If you have further information about any of the accidents, please feel free to comment.

The standard of driving in South London is atrocious, but four accidents

Accident on Kennington Park Road near Kennington Park Place

An accident occurred at approximately 6:30am this morning causing commuter chaos in Kennington.  The accident occurred on Kennington Park Road (the A3) at the junction between Ravensdon Street and Kennington Park Place and appears to have been between two cars (a mini-style vehicle and a range-rover style vehicle).  The collision looks to have been head-on and one witness reports seeing ten men removing the roof of the smaller vehicle to rescue one man from the wreckage.  The injured man was reportedly not unconscious at the time of rescue, so we're hoping there have been no fatalities.  The smaller car looked to have been entirely decimated, and large amounts of plastic/metal debris are strewn across the road and pavement.

Large sections of Kennington Park Road were closed off (between Braganza Street and Kennington Road), causing the surrounding roads to be flooded with traffic.  The police expected the road to be closed for a couple of hours whilst the aftermath of the accident was cleared, and I noted about 15 police personnel at the scene. 

Quite a few people seem to have googled the incident this morning looking for more details, as is always the case when there's a road accident.  If you have more details eg. you witnessed the accident, or you know the outcome of any of the people involved in the accident, and wish to confirm their condition, feel free to leave a comment.

Motorcycle crash at junction of Fentiman Road / South Lambeth Road

There was an accident, involving a motorcycle and a car on the junction between Fentiman Road and South Lambeth Road (SW8), just outside Vauxhall Park, at about 18:00 yesterday evening.  It must have been quite serious as it resulted in a a two-way road closure on South Lambeth Road.  I hope all involved are ok.  Does anybody have further info?

Unconfirmed cycle and motorcycle accidents today in Kennington

The stats. and Twitter are indicating that there have been one or maybe two traffic accidents in Kennington today after 9am.

It seems that there was one accident involving a cyclist at the junction of Kennington Park Road and Kennington Lane on Newington Butts.

It now looks as though there might have been a different accident involving a motorcycle near the junction at Kennington tube station.

These two separate reports might of course have been conflated.  I hope that nobody is badly hurt.  Does anybody have any more info?  I'm very concerned, with the imminent implementation of the CS7 cycle superhighway, that TFL examine the incidence of traffic/cycle accidents around rush hour, and maybe consider some traffic calming measures.

I didn't report it, but there was also a cyclist death (Everton Smith, 48) on Vauxhall Bridge Road (the north side) on 22nd May.  If you were unfortunate enough to be passing through the area (a 436 bus was nearby), please contact the police as they're looking for witnesses.

Accident in Vauxhall this morning

I saw tweets this morning re. an accident in Vauxhall, and have had a few people googling for further details.  From what I can ascertain, there was an accident at around 8.30am this morning, involving a motorcycle, on Parry Street, between South Lambeth Road and Wandsworth Road.

This blog always get extra hits after road accidents or stabbings... Not sure if this is through concern or curiosity.  Needless to say, since I'm not based in SE11 during the day (sadly), I haven't any further info.  I hope the motorcyclist is ok.

Cyclist death in Oval in June - appeal for witnesses

Please go across to the Stockwell News blog and read Bathsheba's post with plea from the husband of Catriona Patel for witnesses to his wife's cycle accident (and subsequent death) on June 29th.

I know that some readers commented on the cycle accident on this blog, and all witnesses are being asked to contact Crimestoppers.

Oval accident - female cyclist died

Stockwell News reported some kind of accident or incident at Oval tube station in Harleyford Road at around 8:30am this morning, and noticed lots of emergency vehicles and somebody on a stretcher. I left for work very late this morning, and didn't notice any traffic buildup in Kennington as a result, but no doubt the road was cleared quickly.

(Edit, 12:12) - One Lurking about SE11 commentator notes that the person on a stretcher was a woman. It is reported that she was a cyclist, and was hit by a lorry.

(Edit, 30/6/2009) - It has now been confirmed (see comments) that the cyclist died in the accident, witnessed by a number of readers yesterday. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of both the cyclist and the lorry driver.

I know that the roads in this area are potentially dangerous because they are so fast moving, and I frequently see both cyclists and motorists driving/cycling dangerously.

Thank you for all of the comments you've all contributed. I know that readers will be sad to hear of another accident in this area. Some of the folk at the London Fixed-Gear and Single Speed website are advocating writing to Boris Johnson to request that he makes HGV/cyclist safety a priority. Individual letters are (as with most things) a more powerful catalyst for change than petitions. If you would like to follow up, you can contact the Mayor as follows:

By email: mayor@london.gov.uk
Postal Address:
Boris Johnson
Mayor of London
Greater London Authority
City Hall
The Queen's Walk
More London
London SE1 2AA
Telephone: 020 7983 4100
Minicom: 020 7983 4458
Fax: 020 7983 4057

I lifted the above information from the thread about the accident on the London FGSS forums here.

(For what it's worth, Boris might be more open to listening to comments at the moment because he was involved in a near-miss recently, reported by the BBC here.)

Accident in Kennington Lane

This morning, the tweeter named "Kennington" broke the news that there was a traffic accident involving a young boy hit by a lorry in Kennington Lane. I've had lots of requests from people for further information about the accident today, but my searches have turned up little.

Please add a comment if you know about the well being of the child involved or witnessed the accident (or know anybody that did).

Edit: 1/6/2009 - Due to the Kennington Association blog pointing out that there was more news in the South London Press re. the accident, I bought a copy. The SLP (p7) says that the accident happened at 5.30am on the corner of Cottington Street/Kennington Lane, the boy in question was 15 years and that the victim suffered serious head injuries, but was breathing on his own when the paper went to press.

I'm receiving a lot of hits from people querying for more information, and I'd be very pleased if anybody who knows the status of the boy in question could post an update. I hope the boy and his family are well supported, and good wishes for recovery are sent from Lurking about SE11.

Traffic accident in Elephant and Castle and accident in Kennington

Post edited to reflect new information as of 9/4/2009:

I've had quite a few hits on my blog today and last night from people searching for the phrase "accident in Kennington".

I assumed at first that people were looking for information about the accident which occurred on the Elephant and Castle roundabout, and in which, tragically, a female cyclist was killed. London-SE1 has an article on that accident, and police are asking for witnesses. The Evening Standard has a more detailed report, which gives witness reports that the cyclist was trapped between an articulated lorry and iron railings.

However, it seems that there were two accidents on 8th April in the area, and (according to Twitter), a second accident occurred in SE11, on Kennington Road just in front of the Texaco garage at about 17:30. The accident in Kennington Road /also/ required an air ambulance and a commentator today noted that the helicopter landed on Lambeth Walk Open Space. Stockwell News has noted reports in the South London Press that the victim was a 14 year old male cyclist.

This is probably why reports of traffic chaos around Kennington/Elephant today were prolific.

SE11 Cycle accidents

I really like the mashup of data that has been done by a chap named Tom Taylor on the number of cycle accidents in 2007 and their exact location. To put together this map, the government released some data co-ordinates from the police about where the cycle accidents happened in London, Tom Taylor turned these co-ordinates into grid references, and those references were then able to be displayed on a Google map.

The Times website have a giant cycle accident map, which I've grabbed a screen shot from. Predictably, the accidents that occurred in the SE11 area mainly seem to have happened on the large main roads. Also, we seem to have far fewer accidents in South London than in the area immediately north of the river. Is that because there are fewer cyclists in South London, I wonder?

Kennington Park Road accident

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A friend told me yesterday that there had been a serious traffic accident at Kennington Park Road, near to Kennington Park Place at around 13.30 yesterday. Details are sketchy, but it might have involved a motorbike. It definitely involved the air ambulance. Does anybody know anything? Was the injured person (people) ok? What happened?

One of the odd things about local news blogging is the realisation that there's a lot that happens at a sub-regional level that doesn't even hit the radar of the newspapers or blogs. Obviously, every minor road skirmish doesn't make interesting news, but I wonder how the right balance is struck. Perhaps we're all so busy watching the banks crash and burn that we're not noticing what's happening under our noses in our local area. Anyhow, I only found out because it popped up in my Google search results as something that somebody had searched Google for yesterday, which prompted me to ask some questions. But how many other newsworthy items do we fail to hear about?

A couple of Stockwell news items

I have failed to report a few Stockwell items that have come up in the news of late, so here is a quick round up:

1. A good Guardian article on "why we must remember Jean Charles Menezes". Last month was the third anniversary of his death, after he was shot by police in the aftermath of the July 7 bombings in London.

2. A BBC article (thanks to Stockwell news for pointing this out) about a seventeen seater minibus travelling back from the Notting Hill Carnival which collided with four pedestrians on South Lambeth Road. Unfortunately, two of the pedestrians have died as a result of the traffic accident.

3. And most recently on Friday... According to The London Daily News, some burglars broke into a house on South Lambeth Road in order to steal scrap metal. They tore out gas pipes, which basically put everybody in the locality in danger as it casued a major gas leak. Personally, I think it all sounds rather strange. Could it be the other way around... Might they have meant to cause a major gas leak and have it look like a burglary? Presumably they'd have put themselves in some danger, and how much can old pipes possibly be worth...?