Following on from the separate tragic deaths of Fillipo Corsini and fellow Italian Lucia Ciccioli, both cyclists on London roads, the pressure group Stop Killing Cyclists held a ‘die in’ outside City Hall on Monday night. Fillipo’s was the eighth death of a cyclist on London’s roads this year.
(Photo: Caspar Hughes)
London Assembly Green Party member Caroline Russell spoke out about the “preventable deaths” caused by lorries designed for construction sites, not public roads. The lorry involved in Fillipo’s death was a ‘0 star-rated’ HGV with poor visibility and blind spots preventing the driver from seeing the cyclist. She called for an immediate ban on all vehicles rated 0-2 on London’s roads. Despite only accounting for 4% of traffic they are involved in 58% of cyclist fatalities and 22% of pedestrian fatalities.
Existing lorries can be retro-fitted to have better visibility
Andrew Gilligan the former Cycling Commissioner, who last week criticised the Mayor for not having appointed a replacement for his role under Boris Johnson after six months, appeared at the vigil. Speaking later on GLR he went on to say that the action on lorries that had been scheduled to begin in 2017 (which had 82% in favour of the consultation) has now been postponed until 2020. While a ‘Night Czar’ has been appointed we are still waiting for someone to take charge of cycling at the London Assembly and fewer protected cycle lanes are due to go ahead than had been originally planned. The Mayor’s office insists that their proposals fro cycling in the capital are more groundbreaking and ambitious than anything done before.
