Caroline Pidgeon is continuing to support action to tackle the high number of accidents and fatalities that face cyclists on London's roads. London faces an especially serious problem with accidents involving collisions between lorries and cyclists at junctions.
A recent question asked by Caroline to the Mayor revealed that in 2009 six cyclists were killed on London's roads in accidents involving a Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV), and with a further two cyclists killed in accidents involving a refuse lorry and a cement mixer. In 2010 there were two cyclists killed in accidents involving vehicles and two further two fatal collisions including a skip lorry and a cement truck.
Caroline has already given her full support to the campaign by the London Cycling Campaign (LCC) for better training for lorry drivers and recently received the petition that had already gathered more than 10,000 signatures. Read more information about the campaign here.
Caroline is also pressing for the rapid roll-out across London of trixi mirrors to help reduce the blindspots that face many lorry drivers when they turn left at junctions. The trixi mirrors cost very little to be installed and are already widespread in many European countires. Yet despite their effectiveness as well as popularity with both lorry drivers and cyclists the Mayor is only planning to ensure they are rolled out on Cycle Superhighways. The Mayor's limited plans to introduce safety mirrrors was confirmed in a further question that Caroline recently asked to the Mayor. The Mayor's reluctance to roll-out the mirrors apart from on Cycle Superhighways was reported in the Evening Standard and on the Shepherd's Bush blog .
For more information about the trixi mirrors and how to support the campaign for their roll-out across London see this excellent report in the Guardian. You can support the petition for more trixi mirrors by signing here.
Finally, Caroline is also supporting the campaign to retain a 20 mph speed limit on Blackfriars Bridge. For more information about how to support this campaign and help ensure this bridge remains safe for cyclists, read about the campaign on the London Cycling Campaign website.
Photo: Belinda Sinclair