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A crackdown on unsafe lorries and rogue drivers has been launched in London in a bid to halt the number of cyclists being killed and seriously injured. |
Police began conducting “stop and search” patrols after the government and Transport for London (TfL) agreed that action was needed to halt the death toll.
Stephen Hammond, the government’s road safety minister, told MPs and cycling activists: “HGVs are killing cyclists in cities. We cannot continue doing nothing about this problem.”
Construction site vehicles were being inspected in Victoria Embankment for safety defects and drivers’ licences were being checked in an effort to catch firms who flout the law. Checkpoints will be set up at key points across the capital, including Blackwall tunnel.
The move comes after TfL research confirmed HGVs were responsible for a disproportionate number of cycle casualties, with tipper trucks a particular concern.
Earlier this month, polar scientist Dr Katharine Giles became the 28th cyclist in four years to die in collision with an HGV — just yards from TfL’s headquarters in Victoria — while a Boris bike rider was critically injured last week in a tipper truck crash.
Hammond, who has ordered government vehicle inspectors to join forces with TfL-funded Met police officers, added: “We are determined to make our roads safer for cyclists, and looking at what can be done to improve HGV safety and standards is a key part.”
Sir Peter Hendy, the TfL commissioner, said the crackdown on construction lorries was “unprecedented”. He has been lobbying Europe on safer HGV designs but said it was important to enforce existing laws.
Sir Peter told the Standard: “If we are really to do something about cyclists and pedestrians, we want to make sure that the standards for drivers and operators are good enough and they’re enforced properly.”
HGV driver Petre Beiu left Times journalist Mary Bowers “worse than dead” when he ran her over in November 2011 as he shuttled between building sites. At his trial last year, he admitted driving for up to 20 hours a day, though this did not form a central part of his conviction for careless driving.
Mary, 29, remains minimally conscious and requires round-the-clock care in a specialist nursing home. Her accident inspired a nationwide campaign that saw MPs call for lorries to be banned from routes popular with cyclists and demanded that more deliveries be made at night.
