Boris makes London's roads more lethal.
number9
Posts: 440
There is only one police unit in London qualified to carry out HGV checks.
Boris plans to scrap it.
Questions going to the Mayor tomorrow include:
Will the cuts to the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Unit make London’s
roads less safe for cyclists?
HGVs in London have a dreadful safety record. Because the HSE refuse
to get involved in road deaths as opposed to deaths onsite, cyclists
deaths are ignored on London’s roads and penalties to killer drivers
are laughable.
The most dangerous vehilces, the ones that pose the greatest danger
and the ones that are involved in a disproportionate number of deaths,
are given even greater leeway to lumber around a medievel road layout
unimpeded.
City of London [Police] spot checks on HGVs [were] carried out on 30
September 2008 as part of the Europe-wide Operation Mermaid2, which is
intended to step up levels of enforcement of road safety laws in
relation to lorries.
On this one day, 12 lorries were stopped randomly by City Police. Five
of those lorries were involved in the construction work for the 2012
Olympics. All of the twelve lorries were breaking the law in at least
one way
Repeat:
a 100 per cent criminality rate among small random sample of
HGVs on the streets of central London. The offences range included
overweight loads (2 cases), mechanical breaches (5 cases), driver
hours breaches (5 cases), mobile phone use while driving (2 cases),
driving without insurance (2 cases) and no operator license (1 case).
Boris is such a twat it’s untrue. The worst vehicles on the roads are being given carte blanche to drive illegally, in unsafe vehicles.
Boris plans to scrap it.
Questions going to the Mayor tomorrow include:
Will the cuts to the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Unit make London’s
roads less safe for cyclists?
HGVs in London have a dreadful safety record. Because the HSE refuse
to get involved in road deaths as opposed to deaths onsite, cyclists
deaths are ignored on London’s roads and penalties to killer drivers
are laughable.
The most dangerous vehilces, the ones that pose the greatest danger
and the ones that are involved in a disproportionate number of deaths,
are given even greater leeway to lumber around a medievel road layout
unimpeded.
City of London [Police] spot checks on HGVs [were] carried out on 30
September 2008 as part of the Europe-wide Operation Mermaid2, which is
intended to step up levels of enforcement of road safety laws in
relation to lorries.
On this one day, 12 lorries were stopped randomly by City Police. Five
of those lorries were involved in the construction work for the 2012
Olympics. All of the twelve lorries were breaking the law in at least
one way
Repeat:
a 100 per cent criminality rate among small random sample of
HGVs on the streets of central London. The offences range included
overweight loads (2 cases), mechanical breaches (5 cases), driver
hours breaches (5 cases), mobile phone use while driving (2 cases),
driving without insurance (2 cases) and no operator license (1 case).
Boris is such a twat it’s untrue. The worst vehicles on the roads are being given carte blanche to drive illegally, in unsafe vehicles.
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Comments
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Turning to the issues of lorries, Inspector Aspinall told the meeting
about a day of City of London spot checks on HGVs, carried out on 30
September 2008 as part of the Europe-wide Operation Mermaid, which is
intended to step up levels of enforcement of road safety laws in
relation to lorries.
On this one day, 12 lorries were stopped randomly by City Police.
Five of those lorries were involved in the construction work for the
2012 Olympics. All of the twelve lorries were breaking the law in at
least one way.
Repeat: a 100 per cent criminality rate among small random sample of
HGVs on the streets of central London. The offences range included
overweight loads (2 cases), mechanical breaches (5 cases), driver
hours breaches (5 cases), mobile phone use while driving (2 cases),
driving without insurance (2 cases) and no operator license (1 case).
In some cases the drivers were given a warning and in other cases
there was a more formal police follow up. No information was given on
convictions following this operation.
Inspector Aspinall said that the London construction vehicle market
(skips, cement mixers, construction materials haulage) was very tight
and competitive. Shady operators with dubious standards and legality
exerted a downward pressure on market prices and that was forcing even
the more responsible companies to cut corners in order to win tenders
. Some companies were even factoring into their costs the
inevitability of a certain number of fines for breaches of the law.
I found this revelation shocking.
http://thebikeshow.net/city-of-london-p ... /#more-3420 -
You could be a journalist with such carefully chosen expressions.
Do HGV's have a "dreadful safety record" in London? I bet they are involved in far less accidents than taxi's.
"and penalties to killer drivers are laughable. "
It really bugs me that people claim this is a cycling issue. It's not. Sentences for drivers invloved in fatal acciddents are laughable regardless of what the person killed was doing at the time, be they walking, cycling or driving or just sitting there as a pasenger. Killing a cyclists is seen just as seriously (or not) as killing anyone else in a car accident.
"a 100 per cent criminality rate "
Are ANY of the listed offences actually a criminal offence, one that results in the person caught being arrested and if found guilty obtaining a crinimal record?
You highlight a valid question about HGV's in the roads, but to cloud it in such biased language does does your point no good at all, indeed most people will take the view that your piece protests too much, and dismiss it's valid point as being unfairly biased.0 -
This should be an interesting answer too, good old Jenny:
The London Assembly
Could you confirm the number of HGVs stopped by police in London for each year since 2000, the proportion that were found to be driving illegally, any breakdown of offences and the proportion that were stopped by specialist traffic police? How will your future policing priorities ensure that there are additional specialist police available to monitor increased HGV flows that are likely with major construction projects such as Crossrail, Thameslink and the Olympics?0 -
This seems like a troll, but I'm suckered in.
I agree with Eau Rouge. You've mixed in lots of personal hyperbole with some stats that a failing GCSE student would pick holes in in less than two minutes.
What you have completely failed to inform any of us about is why this unit is being shutdown. Could it be that actually it is a police job, or maybe they have been useless or perhaps some funding dried up. There could be various reasons other than Borris thinking HGVs aren't a problem.
If you want to raise the issue of HGVs then focus on providing some researched points. At the moment you are damaging your own cause.0 -
davmaggs wrote:This seems like a troll, but I'm suckered in.
I agree with Eau Rouge. You've mixed in lots of personal hyperbole with some stats that a failing GCSE student would pick holes in in less than two minutes.
What you have completely failed to inform any of us about is why this unit is being shutdown. Could it be that actually it is a police job, or maybe they have been useless or perhaps some funding dried up. There could be various reasons other than Borris thinking HGVs aren't a problem.
If you want to raise the issue of HGVs then focus on providing some researched points. At the moment you are damaging your own cause.
feel free to go ahead and point out the flaws in my post if you like, I'm happy to clarify anything you feel is unclear.
Both Jenny Jones and I have no idea why funding is being cut, that's why the question is being asked!0 -
Maybe wait till he's had the chance to answer before criticising - just a thought
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Should be good news for undertakers given that BoJo is about ot spunk £140m quid on a crap bike scheme for tourists (and that's the cost over 4 years).
Strategy seems to be to swamp London with cyclists so you don't notice the one under the wheels of an illegally driven HGV!Allez
Brompton
Krypton
T-130
Never tell her how much it costs ......0 -
prj45 wrote:Eau Rouge wrote:I bet they are involved in far less accidents than taxi's.
Boris also scrapped the twice yearly checks for them, they are only checked once a year now.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/ ... n-roads.do
Funnily enough, the black cabbies carried leaflets saying "Vote Boris". Payback time, like trying to shoehorn that editor that ruined the Standard, Wadley, into the arts chair. now cutting the budget for the inspections of the most dangerous vehicles in London.
England's most famous cyclist, making life harder for cyclists.0 -
number9 wrote:prj45 wrote:England's most famous cyclist, making life harder for cyclists.
Oooo, don't get me started.
OK.
Motorcycles in bus lanes without proper research or any sign of a monitoring scheme to see what the effect is.
Cancellation of the LCN+.
Removal of the WEZ (more congestion, pollution).
Cancellation of the next phase of the LEZ (more polution)
Cancellation of the cross river tram (more vehicles again).
Spending a silly amount on a bike hire scheme
Hiring a petrol head transport advisor that doens't believe there should be a road heirarchy.
Publically riding through red lights and on pavements
Discouraging cyclists by stating that "Bendy buses kill many cyclist each year" (no cyclist has been killed after a collision with a bendy)
Planning to introduce a bus with an open back end so peds can fling themselves into the road.
Completely missing the point of "cycle super highways"
Increase of congestion and pollution on routes where he's scrapped the bendy (more vehicles require to maintain the service)
Resistance to 20mph zones.
I could go on.0 -
15.10.09
A specialist police unit dealing with HGV accidents is to be disbanded.
Transport for London has withdrawn the £1 million-a-year funding that pays for the Met's Commercial Vehicle Education Unit, which helps prevent cyclists being crushed by lorries.
Mayor Boris Johnson, who is chairman of TfL, was told shutting down the unit was "misguided".
The CVEU will close in March.
Jenny Jones, a Green party London Assembly member, said: "The Mayor is risking Londoners' lives in order to save a small amount of money."
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/ ... ty-unit.do0 -
they need to check all the people they are giving CAB licences to, not the black cabs they dont ever cause me problems, just the awful minicab ones, had a few near misses with them and actually got clipped by one yesterday :evil: the guy passed so close and actually clipped my handlebars..... I managed to stay upright and caught up the guy, gave both barrels wanting to know what was going on as the guy didnt even slow down, only word I understood was C*** the rest was in a different language, the guy floored it and was gone. shook me up a bit was tempted to ride the pavement but i was only 5 minutes from home at this point.FCN: 5/6 Fixed Gear (quite rapid) in normal clothes and clips
Cannondale CAAD9 / Mongoose Maurice (heavily modified)0 -
Is cycling in London safe? No it isn't. Can it be made safer? probably but at what cost and at which other road user's expense.
Having read many a post on this forum it seems to me that Cyclists seem to think that the roads are their playgound and should be continually made safer for their enjoyment. I'm not saying that safer is a bad thing but I am saying that making it "safer" for cyclists will probably encourage more cyclists onto the roads. By default this will add to more problems and even more ridiculous SCR threads, silly or not it's pathetic. Clearly the roads are not safe, illegal drivers, uninsured drivers, untaxed, bad drivers, congestion, road works, poor road layout and maintenance but, as a group, cyclists do not help ourselves and frankly I'm tired of all the bleating.. Motor bikes in bus lanes 100% behind it.
London was not designed for so much traffic. If you're commuting into London then you should know the risks. Whatever4 happens it will never be safe.0 -
You've got it the wrong way round feltkua, and you've ignored the truism that more cyclists make the roads safer- cycling is up 83% in London whilst casualties have halved.
And nobody here have said cyclists should use the roads "as a playground"- that's summat you've plucked from thin air.
Argue with what's been said, not silly made-up arguments.0 -
Number 9
Go to SCR thread and see how made up it is....0 -
Having read many a post on this forum it seems to me that Cyclists seem to think that the roads are their playgound
Name them.0 -
Number9
SCR thread, read it, write down the names of the posters then ask me the same question...0 -
OK, done it.
Now name them.0 -
Number9
Try DonDaddyD , don't know his real name but there's one to start. I'm not going to list them all because that would be more than foolish. Perhaps you should accept that the SCR thread is boys and girls playing on their daily commute and I was suggesting that it is simply not safe.0 -
This last exchange is funny.
And what's wrong with enjoying cycling? Hmmmmm? Why would you cycle if it wasn't fun?0 -
I love cycling no doubt. I just think that as cyclists we need to pull our heads in a bit and consider the roads are not our playgound, especially on a commute into London..0
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Have to laugh at the argument that roads in London weren't designed for cyclists, therefore they should stay out - many of the roads were designed long before cars were on the roads
Yes, there are incidents in London, but I don't think it is unsafe - you just understand the risks and ride accordingly.0 -
Number9 read the whole SCR thread in 4 minutes? :shock: Holy sheet, that's 3 pages a second!
We're road cyclists, the roads are by definition our playground. We're not so hot off-road. Furthermore, the no. 1 rule of SCR is safety.
Also, it's fun. Live a little! 0 -
prj45 wrote:number9 wrote:prj45 wrote:England's most famous cyclist, making life harder for cyclists.
Oooo, don't get me started.
OK.
Motorcycles in bus lanes without proper research or any sign of a monitoring scheme to see what the effect is.
Cancellation of the LCN+.
Removal of the WEZ (more congestion, pollution).
Cancellation of the next phase of the LEZ (more polution)
Cancellation of the cross river tram (more vehicles again).
Spending a silly amount on a bike hire scheme
Hiring a petrol head transport advisor that doens't believe there should be a road heirarchy.
Publically riding through red lights and on pavements
Discouraging cyclists by stating that "Bendy buses kill many cyclist each year" (no cyclist has been killed after a collision with a bendy)
Planning to introduce a bus with an open back end so peds can fling themselves into the road.
Completely missing the point of "cycle super highways"
Increase of congestion and pollution on routes where he's scrapped the bendy (more vehicles require to maintain the service)
Resistance to 20mph zones.
I could go on.
Exactly! I've always thought it ironic that people refer to BoZo as the cycling Mayor, it was just a bloody election ploy, he's done far more for motorists in London than he has ever done for cycling since coming to power. Bring back Ken, he had a far better, co ordinated and properly funded transport plan which penalised polluters and put cyclists and peds 1st.Do not write below this line. Office use only.0 -
I've no idea who da doo run ron is or what he's said to justify the claim he views roads as playgrounds, but I race with other commuters, it's entirely safe, it's just....cycling faster!0
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Number9, JonG, Lost in thought and Old skool.
Racing is fun, fun is playing and you play on a playground hence the use of the word playground. I guess having an opinion contrary to the SCR thread might not be the in thing but I do. I just do not see how we, as cyclists, can get the safety we crave when we rely on a lot of drivers watching out for our every move. Only on Tuesday there was a post on the SCR thread where they were three abreast coming down embakment. Not safe and not riding like a cock. However I'm leaving it there as I've said my bit, more then once and you're as fed up hearing it as I am saying it.
Ride safe, have fun..0 -
Racing is fun, fun is playing and you play on a playground hence the use of the word playground.
Driving a car is fun, fun is playing, hence the word of the play in the playground!
In your face, LOSER!
Sorry, had a Dodgeball moment.
I just do not see how we, as cyclists, can get the safety we crave when we rely on a lot of drivers watching out for our every move.
Drivers are are SUPPOSED to watch out on the roads, it's a pretty basic part of the driving test!0
