Nora Guttman & Eilidh Cairns

Press release from the families, worth a read... though it will make you angry as hell.
Yes, angry as hell. This is a complete system failure. A failure by the police, the prosecution service, the magistrates courtes, the traffic commissioner who controls HGV licencing, the coroner's court which failed to consider that more should have been done after Eilidh's death.

The families' press statement went on

Kate Cairns, sister of Eilidh, set up the See Me Save Me campaign to
eliminate the blind spots in lorries.

Kate says: The defence of most drivers involved in the death of vulnerable
road users is that they simply didn't see them. This is not good enough.
We have affordable technology such as cameras and sensors which eliminate
blind spots. It is installed on new cars to protect bumpers so why do we
value the life of a cyclists less than the sheen of a bumper? We need to
re-evaluate the focus on victim blaming. More pedestrians are killed by
HGVs than cyclists, but the government doesn't urge pedestrians to wear
high vis and helmets. The danger is posed by huge clumsy vehicles driven
blind in tiny shared spaces. Focus has to be on the vehicle that poses the
greatest risk, the trucks, and the responsibility to manage the risk has
to be proportionate.

It is clear that the justice system in this case failed to respond
properly and Lopes was allowed to carry on driving. We need to treat road
crime as real crime. We need proper and competent police investigation,
that is transparent and accountable. We need to afford cyclists and
pedestrians the protection of the law, just like any citizen.

Stricter liability, as in so many other countries, would incentivise
employers to equip their drivers properly and to train them to do the job
asked of them. It would also ensure truck companies and construction
clients set and enforce proper standards and best practice. All we are
asking is that the legal system is such that people on our streets are not
at danger of death and maiming from commercial activities. HGVs are mobile
places of work.

Having campaigned for three years since Eilidh's death so others do not
have to die I am here because of the death of another amazing woman, Nora
Gutman, who was run over by the same kind of truck by the same driver.
None of us should be here to today and that includes Lopes. Blind spot
danger could have and should have been designed out. Because our transport
and justice systems tolerate risk on our roads, my family and the Gutmans
are shattered, whilst that of Lopes will suffer his imprisonment. No-one
should have had to suffer, least of all Nora and my sister.

Victim impact statement from the family of Nora Gutmann

Though 97, Nora Gutmann was still youthful when she died. She was still
healthy, still living on her own, still totally independent. We all looked
forward to many years left with her. She was also still totally engaged in
living, learning, growing. She listened to various engaging programmes on
the BBC on a regular basis, read voraciously and has, for many years, been
enrolled and engaged at the University of the Third Age -- a school for
retired people where she had signed up for a course in Buddhism for the
fall term.Nora was also a deeply forgiving person. I don't think she would
have wanted Joao Lopes to be sent to prison, or to deprive his family of
a breadwinner. As a family we don't feel a desire for retribution against
Lopes.We have been informed by the police that Lopes may drive again, and
could even get his Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) license back at some point.
We find the possibility that Lopes could ever drive again to be completely
outrageous.Lopes killed Eilidh Cairns, a 30 year old experienced cyclist
in 2009. He continued driving dangerously after that, having at least
three more accidents before killing Nora, and shockingly there was no
system in place to monitor this dangerous behavior or to take him off the
roads.We ask the court to do everything in its power to protect the public
and prevent Lopes from ever again getting behind the wheel of any
vehicle.