Action Needed Over Number Of Cyclist Deaths
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has called for safer roads for cyclists, greater provision in cyclist training and better driver awareness, following the Department for Transport's annual reported road casualty statistics, published yesterday (26 September). The figures for Great Britain in 2012 show that, overall, road deaths fell by 8 per cent to 1,754 in 2012. However, the number of pedal cyclists killed rose by 10 per cent to 118, and the number of seriously injured cyclists rose, for the eighth year in a row, to 3,222.
The report follows a proposal from the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, and Transport Minister, Stephen Hammond, on 4 September, to remove the most unsafe lorries from the capital.
The Mayor will ask Londoners for their views on whether a substantial ‘safer lorry charge' should be levied on any heavy goods vehicle (HGV) that isn't fitted with basic safety equipment to protect cyclists.
A consultation on the proposal, which is partly modelled on the successful London Low Emission Zone, will begin in early 2014. The proposed charge would not cover buses, smaller commercial vehicles, cars or motorbikes.
According to Transport for London (TfL), more than half of all cyclist deaths in the capital are caused by collisions with HGVs and most collisions happen when vehicles turn left at traffic lights or other junctions.
Under legislation, many HGVs, such as supermarket delivery lorries, are fitted with sidebars or low skirts which protect cyclists from being dragged underneath the vehicle and crushed.
However, construction lorries, tipper trucks, waste vehicles, cement mixers and certain other forms of HGV are exempt from these and other safety requirements. Of the nine cyclist deaths involving HGVs in 2011, seven involved construction lorries.
TfL has issued advice for operators of HGVs, which includes:
Research from TfL shows that vehicles without sideguards are involved in a disproportionate number of fatal collisions with cyclists.
Alongside the ‘safer lorry charge', the Mayor and Mr Hammond also announced a package of other measures to make lorries safer for cyclists, including:
Head of road safety at RoSPA, Kevin Clinton, said:
"As well as boosting the provision of cyclist training and trying to make the roads safer for cyclists, we also need to hammer home the message to drivers to keep their speed down, watch out for cyclists and give them enough room on the road." London's Transport Commissioner, Sir Peter Hendy CBE, said:
"For years we have successfully worked with the freight and construction industries to improve the safety standards on lorries on the capital's streets. However there are still some operators out there who are not doing enough to ensure their vehicles are as safe as they can be. These new measures, including a new safer lorry charge, will ensure safer lorries operate in London and potentially more widely across the whole of the UK." In response to the Mayor's ‘safer lorry charge', the Freight Transport Association (FTA) said it believed there were better ways of achieving safer roads for all road users.
The FTA said that HGV operators were already doing a lot to improve safety by installing additional equipment, training drivers and making changes to the way they operate.
FTA's director of policy, Karen Dee, said:
"Improving road safety is a priority for FTA members and many lorry operators already work to the highest standards. We need to see cyclists taking responsibility for their actions, obeying traffic regulations, giving space to HGVs making manoeuvers and generally riding responsibly." The DfT road casualty report can be found here Source: RoSPA |