‘Cyclist dies after collision with lorry’ ran the Oxford Mail’s headline and I felt sick to the stomach. Joanna Braithwaite, 34, died after she was involved in a crash with a cement mixer lorry last Friday. It is thought she was riding along Polstead Road and into Woodstock Road when the accident happened just after 9am on that bright sunny morning.

My heart goes out to her family and friends. I didn’t know Ms Braithwaite but she could have been any one of hundreds of cyclists.

The chilling news got me thinking about how accidents like this happen, and how we can make sure they never happen again.

It is worth noting that Ms Braithwaite was killed by a lorry. The majority of cyclists who are killed by a vehicle are hit by a lorry or a bus, especially in cities. Although more men cycle than women, the majority of cyclists killed by lorries and buses are female. And the majority of cyclists are killed at junctions. All three recent cyclist deaths in Oxford have fitted two or more of these profiles.

The most dangerous manoeuvre of all is when a bus or a lorry is about to turn left at a junction. Often the bus or lorry will have to pull out to the right a few metres before it can turn left.

Cyclists need to be aware that this is what is about to happen, and not be fooled into thinking that the bus or lorry is about to turn right. Drivers of buses and lorries have several blind spots and one of these blind spots is along the left side of a left-turning vehicle. A cyclist who rides up the inside of the left-turning HGV or bus can’t be seen by the driver and can be crushed under the rear wheels as the side of the vehicle swings left.

From the photo in the Mail, it didn’t look as if this had necessarily happened in Ms Braithwaite’s case, but we won’t know for sure for some time: the driver of the cement mixer lorry has been arrested and bailed on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.

The drivers of the bus and two lorries which killed the last three cyclists in Oxford were all found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving.

You’d think professional drivers would be more careful and law-abiding than the general public, yet it looks to me as if the opposite is the case.

Bus drivers seem to be getting better, but the city council’s refuse collection lorries really worry me, bouncing hairily along narrow and congested streets.

Two weeks ago a friend was knocked off her bike by a City Works refuse lorry in Summertown.

She was injured and her bike damaged. The lorry didn’t stop, so I guess the driver was unaware that he could have killed my friend simply by overtaking and pulling in too soon. People’s lives are not worth a few extra seconds along a busy road. City Works should make sure all its drivers are as careful as they need to be.

We will come to know what factors contributed to Ms Braithwaite’s death. Are the narrow cycle lanes on Woodstock Road’s shared footpaths safe? Was the cement mixer turning left? Was it a case of human error or was it dangerous driving? Time will tell. In the meantime, let’s hope that cyclists and drivers alike take stock and take care, especially at junctions.