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I’ll do it, but only if you’ll help

Pledge “cyclesafely”

"I will write to my MP about the continuing problem of London cyclists being critically injured by lorries but only if 20 other Londoners will do the same."

— Brani, passionate about safer cycling in London (contact)

Deadline to sign up by: 24^th October 2008
23 people signed up (3 over target)

Country: United Kingdom

More details
In the last week two London cyclists were killed in collisions with lorries and another was seriously injured.

A London Road Safety Unit study of London cyclist fatalities between 1999 and 2002 concluded that, of the 49 collisions with lorries, more than half were the result of a left turn by the lorry.

The design of many of London’s cycle lanes and advance stop lines (green boxes at traffic lights) lure cyclists into the most dangerous position at junctions: slightly in front of and to the left of lorries.

At the two junctions where cyclists were recently killed by left-turning lorries (Upper Thames Street junction with Queen Street Place, and Camley Street junction with Goods Way) there are advance stop lines, both with feeder cycle lanes from the left.

What is needed:

1. A ban on very large lorries (HGVs) from the current Congestion Charge zone during Congestion Charge hours.

2. Compulsory installation of the latest ‘blind spot’ mirrors and more training for drivers on how to use them.

3. Removal of dangerous cycle lanes.

4. Tougher punishments for drivers and lorry companies convicted of negligent driving.

To make this happen, we need to tell the government officials and the lorry companies about the problem and demand that they take action.

Write to:

- Your MP
- Boris Johnson, Mayor of London
- Your representative on the London Assembly
- Your local councillors
- The Secretary of State for Transport
- David Brown, Managing Director, Surface Transport, Transport for London
- Roger King, Chief Executive, Road Haulage Association

Find out who your elected representatives are and how to write to them by visiting www.WriteToThem.com

Changing laws, removing dangerous cycle lanes, fitting better mirrors and training lorry drivers will take time.

In the meantime, cycle safely
http://www.cyclesafelondon.com/

Comments on this pledge

• Any chance of the email addresses for the non-elected people listed (David Brown, Roger King, perhaps even the Sec. Of State for Transport) when the pledge gets activated?
  Simon M, 2 months ago. Abusive? Report it!
• Hm - I fear that you would have to go through TFLs feedback forms...
  
  Unless someone out there knows these email addresses? If yes, send them to me and I can then distribute it to the signers of this pledge.
  Brani, 2 months ago. Abusive? Report it!
• Hi!
  
  I wrote to my MP and London Assembly member. I wrote to TFL and Mayor's office before and below is an excerpt, although I think the latter is mostly templated...
  
  Please share bits of your responses by posting them as a comment.
  
  ***
  Response from Gemma Jacob, Customer Service Advisor, Transport for London, Surface Transport Communications
  
  "...We are in active discussions with the Mayor about the issue of safety in relation to cyclists and HGVs. We are also working with partners to improve engineering, enforcement and education to make things safer for cyclists. This includes work with HGV operators and the police to highlight the problems and look for solutions."
  
  ***
  
  The rest of the email talks about road a cycle lane maintenance.
  Brani, 5 weeks ago. Abusive? Report it!
• Finally got time to dig up some email addresses and do my pledge. Try these:
  
  Roger King is r"dot"king"at"rha"dot"net
  
  David Brown, best I could get is enquire"at"tfl"dot"gov"dot"uk and mark email subject FAO: David Brown, MD, Surface Transport
  
  Geoff Hoon is Geoff"dot"Hoon"at"dft"dot"gsi"dot"gov"dot"uk
  
  Boris is, of course mayor"at"london"dot"gov"dot"uk
  
  And your MP and local London Assembly reps come from the writetothem.com link.
  
  I'll post any responses I get.
  Simon M, 2 weeks ago. Abusive? Report it!
• Edited response from TFL
  
  We are very sensitive to the issues that you have raised and we are working on a number of initiatives to further improve cyclist safety.
  
  These include:
  
  Detailed research into collisions including cyclist fatalities.
  
  Rolling out the Freight Operator Recognition Scheme (FORS), which is a unique, industry-led Freight operator membership scheme with the aim of transforming freight delivery in London. FORS can assist in highlighting safety issues to operators.
  
  Contributing to a consultation by the Department for Transport which proposes the retrofitting of improved wide-angle and close-proximity mirrors to HGVs that have come into operation since January 2000. In fact, in our response we made clear that we believed that all heavy vehicles over 3.5 tonnes should be retrofitted with these additional mirrors.
  
  Distributing another 10,000 “Fresnel” lenses to freight operators in London
  
  Continuing with publicity campaigns on the TfL website and in other media.
  
  Providing funding for “Bikeability” training courses.
  
  Investigation of casualty collision locations, safety auditing and road safety engineering/traffic management
  
  The Cycling pages on TfL's website are being revised to include detailed safety tips for cyclists and HGVs on London’s busy roads.
  
  We are also working with London Councils to sponsor legislation (the London Local Authorities and Transport for London (No 2) Bill), which will clarify the legal position regarding Advance Stop Lines (ASLs) and allow for camera enforcement of ASLs. It will also remove the current need for lead-in lanes and make ASLs easier to enforce.
  
  We are looking at ways to pilot and evaluate new cycling safety initiatives, working closely with the City Road Safety Forum.
  
  Graham Hurt
  Customer Service AdvisorTfL - London StreetsSurface Transport
  Communications
  Simon M, 6 days ago. Abusive? Report it!