So, 4 months into 2009 and 4 cyclists have been killed by HGVs. This story on Moving Target gives more details.
I wrote about the heart-breaking incident when a child, Sajjad Bilgrami, was killed by an HGV at the end of last year. The boy’s father actually commented on my entry. At the time I had written to my MP, my local authority and Transport for London asking that they consider whether allowing a person balancing on a piece of steel to share the same space as a multi-tonne steel killing machine was sensible. Wandsworth Council’s response was that they were “not convinced of the logic” of banning HGVs during times of the day when people were most likely to be cycling between home and school.
Think about it…. how much time, money and hassle do we spend on protecting us from the threat of terrorism in London? Anyone care to make a guess? I have no idea, but I’m guessing it’s a lot. How many people have actually been killed by terrorists in the last year in London? I’m not sure, but my guess is none. Just goes to show how effective they are being at preventing it doesn’t it? But whilst we are happy giving away our civil liberties in the name of preventing terrorism, why is there “no logic” in doing something about people actually properly getting killed by HGVs as they cycle to work? It’s not just the threat of HGV death we’re talking about, here.
Maybe I’m being trite to equate terrorism with cycle deaths – but it has to be within our collective wit to prevent this from happening. It’s not acceptable to shrug shoulders and say “we can’t see the logic” in something when people continue to die at a rate of about 1 a month. Wake up London!!
Leave a Comment
No comments yet.
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
