Cyclists cheer H&F for signing up to "safer lorries"

The London Cycling Campaign (LCC) has lauded our local authority for signing up to the LCC's Safe Lorries campaign, which aims to put a stop to the sort of tragedies that have scarred our own borough, like this one back in 2011 or that which took the life of Catriona Patel.

Seven councils have now signed LCC's pledge to only use the best-trained lorry drivers and the lorries with the best safety equipment available.

LCC's chief executive Ashok Sinha said:

"We thank the thousands of our supporters who've put pressure on their councils to take our 'Safer Lorries, Safer Cycling' pledge.

"And we're delighted Ealing and Hammersmith & Fulham councillors have committed to only using the safest lorries and drivers in future.

"We hope their actions spur on other London boroughs that consider themselves cycle-friendly – Camden, Hackney, Lambeth and many others – to also take our pledge, helping to prevent cyclist deaths on our streets."

Councillor Victoria Brocklebank-Fowler, H&F Council Cabinet Member for Transport & Technical Services, said:

"Around a half of all cyclist deaths on our roads are caused by heavy lorries – which only make up about 5% of the traffic in the borough.

"Given this stark reality, the council is delighted to commit to only using the best-trained drivers and safest lorries in order to reduce road danger for anyone cycling or walking in the borough.

"As the recipient of a London Cycling Award for our previous efforts on lorry driver training, we are determined to remain one of the leading boroughs for cycle safety."

Great news - and by being only one of only seven councils to sign up so fast our Council deserve credit for leading the way on this. Though I can't help feeling that until we bite the bullet and have dedicated cycle lanes instead of fading blue stripes of paint we'll continue to hear these tragic stories.