Mostly left turns is a project visually documenting the locations of all cycling fatalities involving motor-vehicles in London during 2015. It consists of a series of photographs depicting the last movements of the eight cyclists killed. The title reflects the fact that all but one of these deaths were caused by left-turning lorries. The one exception being the death of Clifton James in Harrow who was killed by a car. Of the seven cyclist killed by lorries it’s notable that six of these were women.
The eight fatal accidents presented here are in chronological order. Each photograph was taken at the site of the accident, and a light trail depicts the last moments of the journey of the cyclist. Where the light trail ends is the spot the cyclist was struck, and more often than not, killed instantly.
The light trails were created by a cyclist riding towards the camera set to a long exposure, their bike fitted with a very bright, but commonly available, bike-light. It seemed important somehow that a bicycle be used as an integral part of making these images. In every instance myself and a friend, Tim May, rode to the scenes at dawn in order to take the photographs without any traffic present.
The project Mostly left turns won the LensCulture 2015 Visual Story Telling Award. The work was exhibited by the Royal Photographic Society in September 2016 at the Magic Gallery in Charing Cross, London.