Three cyclist fatalities in London in June
Crap Cycling & Walking in Waltham Forest: Peckham crash update
http://crapwalthamforest.blogspot.com/2 ... pdate.html
http://crapwalthamforest.blogspot.com/2 ... -tube.html
http://crapwalthamforest.blogspot.com/2 ... aines.html
My (the blog's author's) immediate response is:
(i) Just look at those lethal railings in the photos. They may or may
not have had a role to play in this latest fatality but nevertheless
railings at every road junction in Greater London (spot the railings
in the last pic in my lorry post below) need to be torn up AS A MATTER
OF URGENCY. They are quite literally death traps for any cyclist
caught between them and a heavy goods vehicle.
(ii) BBC London News has contemptuously ignored this fatality, just as
it has done every other lorry/cycling fatality this year and in 2008.
The cycling community should be bombarding the BBC with protests about
the way it marginalizes road violence. Complain to the head of BBC
News: helenboaden.complai...@bbc.co.uk
(iii) The police could play a major role in making our roads safer by
cracking down on lawless drivers, lorries flouting the law (like the
one in the Boris incident, with doors held together by a coat hangar)
and enforcing Advanced Stop Lines. The Met is signally failing in its
duty of care to vulnerable road users, and it’s about time London’s
cycling community vented its dissatisfaction outside New Scotland
Yard.
(iv) [Belated afterthought a day later]
London Cycling Campaign has criticised Road Safety Minister Jim
Fitzpatrick for failing to implement measures to protect vulnerable
road users from lorries. In a letter to LCC this week, the minister
confirmed he has no plans to speed up the fitting of Class VI safety
mirrors, nor to ensure lorry driver training will make them more aware
of cyclists and pedestrians.
The letter from the minister came days after another London cyclist
was involved in a fatal collision with a heavy goods vehicle in
Greenwich on 15 May 2009. LCC has long campaigned to speed up the
fitting of Class VI safety mirrors to all HGVs. These mirrors give a
view of the road directly in front of the driver’s cab, and are proven
to reduce cyclist and pedestrian casualties.
Under the current programme, most UK lorries will not have these
mirrors until 2014.
I don't know which office Jim Fitzpatrick hangs out in (it shouldn't
be too hard to find out) but I think we need 500 cyclists to turn up
outside it to send him a message.
According to Charlie Lloyd, campaigns manager at the LCC and former
HGV driver, in nearly all cases of HGV/cyclist collisions initial
contact with the cyclist has been made by the front of the HGV.
This suggests that the cyclist was ahead of the HGV driver, and was
probably there before the HGV driver arrived. Again, according to
Charlie Lloyd, to turn left an HGV driver will have to manoeuvre their
vehicle well to the right of the lane, this means that their attention
will be to the right, not to the left.
http://crapwalthamforest.blogspot.com/2 ... pdate.html
http://crapwalthamforest.blogspot.com/2 ... -tube.html
http://crapwalthamforest.blogspot.com/2 ... aines.html
My (the blog's author's) immediate response is:
(i) Just look at those lethal railings in the photos. They may or may
not have had a role to play in this latest fatality but nevertheless
railings at every road junction in Greater London (spot the railings
in the last pic in my lorry post below) need to be torn up AS A MATTER
OF URGENCY. They are quite literally death traps for any cyclist
caught between them and a heavy goods vehicle.
(ii) BBC London News has contemptuously ignored this fatality, just as
it has done every other lorry/cycling fatality this year and in 2008.
The cycling community should be bombarding the BBC with protests about
the way it marginalizes road violence. Complain to the head of BBC
News: helenboaden.complai...@bbc.co.uk
(iii) The police could play a major role in making our roads safer by
cracking down on lawless drivers, lorries flouting the law (like the
one in the Boris incident, with doors held together by a coat hangar)
and enforcing Advanced Stop Lines. The Met is signally failing in its
duty of care to vulnerable road users, and it’s about time London’s
cycling community vented its dissatisfaction outside New Scotland
Yard.
(iv) [Belated afterthought a day later]
London Cycling Campaign has criticised Road Safety Minister Jim
Fitzpatrick for failing to implement measures to protect vulnerable
road users from lorries. In a letter to LCC this week, the minister
confirmed he has no plans to speed up the fitting of Class VI safety
mirrors, nor to ensure lorry driver training will make them more aware
of cyclists and pedestrians.
The letter from the minister came days after another London cyclist
was involved in a fatal collision with a heavy goods vehicle in
Greenwich on 15 May 2009. LCC has long campaigned to speed up the
fitting of Class VI safety mirrors to all HGVs. These mirrors give a
view of the road directly in front of the driver’s cab, and are proven
to reduce cyclist and pedestrian casualties.
Under the current programme, most UK lorries will not have these
mirrors until 2014.
I don't know which office Jim Fitzpatrick hangs out in (it shouldn't
be too hard to find out) but I think we need 500 cyclists to turn up
outside it to send him a message.
According to Charlie Lloyd, campaigns manager at the LCC and former
HGV driver, in nearly all cases of HGV/cyclist collisions initial
contact with the cyclist has been made by the front of the HGV.
This suggests that the cyclist was ahead of the HGV driver, and was
probably there before the HGV driver arrived. Again, according to
Charlie Lloyd, to turn left an HGV driver will have to manoeuvre their
vehicle well to the right of the lane, this means that their attention
will be to the right, not to the left.
0
Comments
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Yep support all of that.
As a resident of LB Waltham Forest I have to say I'm a big fan of Freewheeler's blog. I admire is activism and use his site daily. I don't always agree with his views but nobody can deny that he isn't passionate about his cause and must be making a difference given the coverage he gets in local and sometimes national media. I'm not fully supportive of his LCC and other "letter writing" activist bashing bus suspect that he has tried that route and found the slow progress (when any) rather frustrating.
If you're reading this Freewheeler - keep up the good work!Pain is only weakness leaving the body0 -
Join the Shoot Clarkson Campaign - please look at the arguments and have your say.seanoconn - gruagach craic!0
