Action Group Meeting - cycling deaths caused by lorries

Like it or not, they do have a point tho.

It is up to us to look after ourselves. If we as cyclists don't put ourselves in vulnerable positions (up the inside or in front of a hgv/bus/whatever indicating or not) they can't get us. It's that simple

Yes they have mirrors, but they don't want to squash us and they don't try either. They just have to be looking in the wrong direction for a second when a cyclist goes up their inside into their blind spot and through no fault of their own a cyclist has put themselves in a dangerous position, and the driver is non the wiser.

"I think this reply is most important because it states current Transport for London policy. Note that their answer is to stick signs on the back of lorries saying 'don't go up the inside'. Two things wrong with this, in the view of the LBMA. One, the LBMA had already devoted considerable efforts to raising awareness of the 6 London bicycle messengers killed by HGVs, having twice painted the roads with their names and also publicised their cases in the programme distributed free at 2003 ECMC, which Sebastian would have received, BEFORE Sebastian was killed. Two, there is no mention of extra training, education or equipment for the HGV drivers.

The LBMA accepts that cyclists have a duty to preserve their own lives. However, we feel that HGV operators also have a duty of care to make sure that their drivers are made aware of the fatal danger that their vehicles threaten cyclists with; that they are also made aware of the frequency with which HGVs kill cyclists in London; and that they are given all possible equipment and training to avoid these fatal accidents in the future. Until such time as the HGV operators take these measures, the LBMA does not feel that they have earned the right to share the road with our members...

...we doubt that the initiative in its current form will contribute to a reduction in the threat to cyclists from HGVs. The initiative, which amounts to putting signs on HGVs advising cyclists not to pass them on the left, could be seen as encouraging HGV drivers to believe that they do not have a duty of care for other road users. 'It's their responsibility to stay out of my way, not my responsibility to look out for them'.

The LBMA fully accepts that all road users are responsible for their own safety. However, we believe that all road users are responsible for the safety of the road users around them. This initiative does not appear to conform to this simple dictum, for the reasons given above.

 In 2003, the LBMA organised two separate memorial rides, one on the occasion of the 2003 European Cycle Messenger Championships hosted by the LBMA and on 9th October, which is International Bicycle Messenger Appreciation Day, which visited the sites at which the previous six London bicycle messengers have been killed by collisions with HGVs. We are committed to remembering our fallen comrades, and trying to reduce the chance of fatal or near-fatal collisions involving HGVs and cyclists in London. We know that this type of collision is almost unknown in some Northern European cities, which shows that this type of collision is not inevitable. We therefore expect the operators to make efforts as strenuous as our own, and convince us, those who are at risk, that these efforts are more than the usual cursory attempt to convince public officials that self-regulation is sufficient.
 Therefore, I believe that this initiative could only be acceptable to the LBMA if it was accompanied by substantial investments of both money and time in HGV driver education and re-equipment of the vehicles with more mirrors. Written assurances from the operators that this investment in training and equipment was actually taking place would be welcome news."

I wrote this 5 years ago. Since then, some hauliers have taken on what I suggested. However, lots of them still have heaps to do, as evidenced by the fact that in at least 2 fatalities mirrors had been removed.

Also, to say that all the deaths and injuries could have been avoided by the cyclists is just plain ignorant. There were, apparently, no witnesses to Eilidh's death. She was killed when she was on the right, in the outside lane. There are a number of possible scenarios in which Eilidh could only avoided the collision by not using that road at all. Effri was hit by a truck entering his lane across a double white line, ie Effri had right of way, and was hit by a truck turning right out of side road. Conrad Dutoit was killed in the Pancras Way bike lane by a right turning lorry. The lorry driver who killed him, Mr Ibrahim, was found guilty of ‘Driving Without Due Care And Attention’ (ie he didn’t look before turning) and ‘Driving Other Than In Accordance With A Licence’ (ie he wasn’t licensed to drive the category of lorry that he crushed Conrad to death with), fined £500, plus £250 costs and disqualified for 56 days.

For sure, some of the deaths and injuries were the result of left turns by the lorries. But by no means all.