16.04.09 by Buffalo Bill
The Mayor of London has announced that he will be asking the Government to change traffic laws so that cyclists can turn left at red lights. He hopes that this will cut the number of collisions between cyclists and HGVs. As you will know, if you are a regular reader of this blog, 3 women have been killed by collisions with lorries so far this year. I doubt that being able to turn left on red would have enabled any of the 3 to avoid the collisions that killed them.
Meryem Ozekman, killed at Elephant and Castle last week, was nowhere near a traffic light when she was run over. Rebecca Goosen, killed on Old Street, was almost certainly going straight on over the junction with Aldersgate Street, as her office was on Cowcross Street, so she is likely to have followed Clerkenwell Road at least to the St John Street junction.1 And Eilidh, killed at Notting Hill Gate, is known to have followed NHG all the way down to Shepherd’s Bush, and, in any case, is reported to have been on the right hand side of the lorry that killed her.
I think the Mayor’s proposal is worth pursuing, and I think the idea is a good one, but it’s too simplistic to see it as the answer. As Jack Thurston reported months ago,
City of London [Police] spot checks on HGVs [were] carried out on 30 September 2008 as part of the Europe-wide Operation Mermaid2, which is intended to step up levels of enforcement of road safety laws in relation to lorries. On this one day, 12 lorries were stopped randomly by City Police. Five of those lorries were involved in the construction work for the 2012 Olympics. All of the twelve lorries were breaking the law in at least one way. Repeat: a 100 per cent criminality rate among small random sample of HGVs on the streets of central London. The offences range included overweight loads (2 cases), mechanical breaches (5 cases), driver hours breaches (5 cases), mobile phone use while driving (2 cases), driving without insurance (2 cases) and no operator license (1 case).
We also know that 2 lorries involved in fatal collisions with cyclists in the last 2 years were missing mirrors.3 Given that there is a new law on the books obliging all lorries registered since 2000 to fit more mirrors, and that a failure to see the cyclist by the driver must have been a factor in all 3 of the deaths mentioned above perhaps the Mayor ought to be making statements to the effect that the Met Traffic Unit will be doing a lot more random stops to make sure that these mirrors are actually fitted.
1 For more on these deaths see this Standard article.
2 More on Operation Mermaid, which is a cross-border operation aimed at taking dangerous lorries (and dangerous lorry drivers) off the road, see this story on the TISPOL website.
3 See Driver that killed Lisa Pontecorvo had removed mirror and Dead cyclist’s widow wins compensation.
Cyclist killed by collision with cement lorry, Old Street
Crossrail spoils plan to reduce lorry numbers
Dead cyclist’s widow wins compensation
Driver that killed Lisa Pontecorvo had removed mirror
Killer drivers’ sentences appealed
London’s couriers mark the street
Eilidh Memorial Ride Saturday 7th March
BJ wants to see cyclists fined £130 for cycling on the pavement
Drunk driver who killed cyclist has sentence halved on appeal
5 years since Seb was killed
http://www.movingtargetzine.com/article/boris-left-at-the-lights
Agree with all of this. But you don’t say whether this left turn thing is a good idea or a bad idea.
Putting aside the point that Boris should be doing other things that will help reduce lorry/cyclist collisions, do you think this left turn idea is good or bad?
— Jack Apr 16, 10:45 AM #
Sorry Bill. Just re-read the post and you do say you think it’s a good idea worth pursuing. Must pay more attention.
But what about the point you made on Twatter earlier in the week about it encouraging cyclists to ride up the left side, on the inside and the dangerous side of lorries?
— Jack Apr 16, 10:47 AM #
Dunno. It seems likely that it will, but if combined with clear instructions not to get too close to either side of a lorry, then…
— BIll Apr 16, 11:09 AM #
I think the idea of a 10 second advantage for cyclists when the light turns from red to green would be a good idea, giving time to get ahead. Separate traffic lights for cyclists and resulting longer waits for motor traffic.
— Jack Apr 16, 02:42 PM #
‘Tis a pity Boris wasn’t left in the womb.
Hahahahahaha…..urgh.
— overdrive Apr 16, 06:13 PM #