A police force has apologised after it was accused of victim-shaming an 18-year-old cyclist killed in an accident by suggesting people riding bikes should not weave in and out of traffic.

Oliwia Franchesca Wojciechowka became the second female cyclist to be killed in Greater Manchester in the space of a week when she was crushed by a lorry in Salford on Friday.



Photographs of the scene suggest an articulated lorry turned left at traffic lights, trapping the Polish teenager underneath.

Six days earlier, 24-year-old Vicky Myres was knocked over in an alleged hit-and-run while riding her bike in Timperley, in the borough of Trafford. She died in hospital. A 26-year-old man was arrested and charged with causing death by dangerous driving, failing to stop after a road traffic collision and failing to report a road traffic collision.

After Wojciechowka’s death, a lawyer and Twitter user, Wednesday Jones, called for ideas for ways to stop cyclists being killed.

Getting to be one a week. Any suggestions as to how to stop this? — Wednesday Jones (@wedzx2003) September 2, 2017

One of Greater Manchester police’s divisional feeds, @GMPRadcliffe, replied: “Drivers to give the cyclists room to manoeuvre and cyclist not to weave in and out of traffic at speed.”

The response was widely condemned. Chris Paul, a Manchester city councillor and the council’s lead member for cycling, said: “Awful answer. Just awful. An 18-year-old on a bike died. Come on @gmpolice get a grip of your Twitter feeds.”

Jones said: “Whoever was in charge of tweeting on behalf of @GMPRadcliffe needs to (a) be forced to cycle to work (b) be retrained. Imbecile.”

She called on Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, to look into GMP’s “insensitive victim-shaming”.

After the criticism grew on Monday, Tariq Butt, the chief inspector of the GMP, said: “I would like to apologise to anyone offended by [the tweet]. This is a tragic case in which a young woman lost her life and I would like to send my sincere condolences to her family at this very difficult time.”

Earlier, Jones told the Guardian she had written a letter of complaint to the GMP chief constable, Ian Hopkins, as well as to Burnham and her MP.



The former world and Olympic champion cyclist Chris Boardman, now Greater Manchester’s cycling and walking commissioner, said: “It is completely unacceptable that people lose their lives on roads in Greater Manchester when they are simply going about their day.”

He said he knew from first-hand experience that the victims’ families’ lives would never be the same again – his mother, Carol, was killed in a collision with a lorry while she was cycling in north Wales last year. He told the Guardian last week that he now avoided cycling on UK roads because he did not feel safe.



Boardman said: “The mayor has made a commitment to cut casualties on the road, and I see the priority as evidence-based enforcement and improving road design. I have already met with the GMP roads leader to discuss that the enforcement resource focuses more squarely on those that can do the most harm to others. We want to encourage an attitude in all of us of looking after other road users, especially those that are more vulnerable than ourselves.”

Wojciechowka’s family paid tribute to her. Her mother and brother said: “We cannot believe what has happened and we cannot sleep. She is our love and had a very big heart. Our lives will never be the same without her. The loss is so big.”

No one has been arrested in connection with Wojciechowka’s death. Anyone with information should contact GMP’s serious collision investigation unit on 0161 856 4742, quoting incident number 1266 of 01/09/17.

Cycling charities have long warned of the dangers of left-turning lorries. The London Cycling Campaign says lorries present the greatest risk to life for cyclists in Greater London, accounting for half the fatalities despite being only 5% of motor traffic.

“There’s considerable evidence that many fatalities are not caused by cyclists undertaking lorries but by drivers manoeuvring their lorry into a position that puts the cyclist at risk,” the campaign says.