please take time to read LFGSS London deaths again

Mark Alexander

There have been 2 serious road accidents involving cyclists and HGVs in the last 48 hours.

The first was on Whitechapel Road yesterday which resulted in a fatality (the 9th this year):
http://www.londonfgss.com/thread29617.html
http://www.movingtargetzine.com/article ... ember-2009

The second was on Poynders Road this afternoon, the situation there is not currently clear:
http://www.londonfgss.com/thread29730.html

Kate (sister of Eilidh Cairns) has issued this appeal to help organise an action group to help end these accidents:


This smacks me in the heart again, and again and again. Why is this happening?!? Why is the 'action' not working? There is no urgency, no importance, no priority, and no resources.

I am going to this meeting on Monday, invited by Roadpeace. I have been working a lot with Roadpeace since Eilidh went down.
After putting up her ghost bike 2 weeks ago, several of her friends made further suggestions about action to take. I have a list as long as my arm already. The film we are making raises more and more questions. Since the ghost bike I felt overwhelmed and lost momentum but this is just not good enough.

I WANT TO PUT TOGETHER AN ACTION GROUP TO MAKE CHANGE AND MAKE IT FAST.
I cant carry on at my pace and intensity and there are already bodies like LCC and Roadpeace which need support. Cyclists have ideas, people have resources and connections. Let's work together. Many of you have expressed a desire to do sthg. I was planning a proper proposal/post/email but this cant wait so I had to post it here and now.

I'M ASKING ANYONE WHO IS INTERESTED IN DOING SOMETHING TO COME AND MEET, ALL TOGETHER, to make a list (I already have an extensive one for comment), to prioritise, to delegate and to make change happen. Its up to us. No-one else is going to do this.

Im in London next week. Who wants to meet after work, maybe from about 6-7pm Tuesday or Wednesday, to discuss and get involved? Who can suggest/provide a location/ office somewhere central? I will ask at the meeting on Monday what they think we could do.

For me, and for Eilidh, and for the other 6, Im sure this is the best thing we can do. Otherwise they die in vain. Let's make the death of this young woman propel us into action for change.


So the appeal is simple...

If you have time and resources to give, if you are in the position to help, if you are an interested party, if in any way you can be of help, please join the action group in the inaugural meeting next Tuesday to help kick things off.

The initial tasks are probably the tedious ones of research and gap analysis over what is being done already, why isn't it working? Then comes trying to form a focus, to have us all act as one in trying to prevent these incidents from recurring.

There is a thread on LFGSS about it:
http://www.londonfgss.com/thread29719.html

There is an urgent need for a largeish quiet space in which the meeting can be held. So if you are able to donate a piece of office space (a large meeting room) in the centre of London please do step forward in the thread.

Thanks for taking the time to read this,

David
a.k.a Velocio

PS: If you're from the media, and I know some of you are, please help give this issue the space it needs.

andyp

As part of the LFGSS campaign, a petition has been set up at the 10 Downing Street website;

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/LGV-Cycle-Safety/

Please add your name to it, should you agree with the aims.

Thanks.

shouldbeinbed

You guys in London campaigns might like to get in touch with the Met Police Chief Sir Paul Stephenson.

His daughters boyfriend (Harry Wilmers) was killed under the wheels of a LGV in Manchester at the start of August.

He might be a little more sympathetic to the needs of cyclists having had to pick up the pieces so close to home.

deptfordmarmoset

On 7 December, around midday, a woman was hit by a left-turning HGV at the junction of the Tunnel Approach Road and the end of Woolwich Road in Greenwich, London. At the time this story was not covered by any newspaper. Eventually greenwich.co.uk website, picked the story up from a local blog and covered it with a couple of paragraphs, confirming that there had been an accident and that there were no further details. This woman died of her injuries on 10 December and from the letters I gather from posters to that site that she was called Stella, a 66-year-old retired careworker.

And - this is what is really troubling me - no press or media have covered this story. Is it now 8 women deaths out of 9 fatalities under the wheels of HGVs this year? And just one junction away, another woman - Adrianna - was killed by a hit and run HGV in May this year. What should rightly be a scandal, an outrage, is somehow treated instead as '' just one more'' and not even worthy of news coverage. I have this deep feeling of distress that this kind of accident is now being treated as some kind of ''collateral damage.''