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McGee truckStop construction vehicle "slaughter" of London cyclists, says top architect
One of London's most prominent architects says the construction industry needs to take action to stop the "slaughter" of cyclists by its vehicles on London streets. The "appalling" death toll must be reduced to zero, Peter Murray, chairman of the New London Architecture forum
Murray's call comes in the aftermath of the death on April 9 of renowned designer Moira Gemmill, who died after being hit by a tipper truck near Lambeth Bridge.
He told Construction Manager: “Hopefully such a high-profile fatality like this forces people into action. It’s such a horrible situation, where growth in cycling has gone beyond the safety design of lorries operating in London.
“We need to look at this right across the board, stop blaming people and work out a solution in the real world to reduce the number of construction HGV deaths to zero.”
Ms Gemmill was the fifth cyclist to die on London's street this year. Heavy goods vehicles were involved in all five deaths, and four of those were construction vehicles.
In 2013 Murray and fellow architects Sunand Prasad and Roger Hawkins were invited by Boris Johnson to consult on the design of all the cycling infrastructure to be built as part of the planned £913 million spend over ten years.
Murray's P2P group came up with the Golding Rule, a simple graphic demonstrating how faster and more dangerous road users should yield to more vulnerable.
The Golding Rule
The Golding Rule was named for architect Francis Golding, one of six cyclists to die in London in the first two weeks of November 2013. It was suggested as part of a report that Murray and his colleagues submitted after a 4,347-mile ride from Portland, Oregon to Portland Place, London that passed through 12 major US cities to experience their cycling facilities.
Murray told Architects Journal that architects could help educate contractors about the dangers.
He said: "It is very shocking that construction is responsible for so many deaths. It behoves all those involved in the industry to make greater efforts to reduce this slaughter.
"Architects should make sure that clients and contractors are fully aware of the issues and that only lorries with properly trained drivers and the necessary safety equipment should be employed on their sites.
"The Construction Industry Cycling Commission, set up after the death of Francis Golding, is carrying out research to ascertain the reasons behind the statistics and is working with other safety organisations to reduce these appalling numbers to zero."
Director of the UK Contractors Group (UKCG) Stephen Ratcliffe told Architects Journal: "We share the concerns over the safety of cyclists and other vulnerable road users, particularly in relation to what the construction industry can do to eliminate the toll of death and injuries, particularly evident in London.
"Through our members, and more directly, we have been working with a variety of interested groups to improve the situation. We particularly support the standard on construction logistics and cycling safety. It covers issues including advance planning, managing the logistics of deliveries, safety equipment for vehicles, training and traffic control around sites. The standard provides a common industry framework."
Transport for London's Safer Lorry Scheme will come into force on September 1. It will require all vehicles over 3.5 tonnes that are currently exempt to be fitted with Class V and Class VI mirrors, giving the driver a better view of cyclists and pedestrians around their vehicles; and to be fitted with side guards to protect cyclists from being dragged under the wheels in the event of a collision.
However, cycling advocates have pointed out that the scheme does nothing to change the payment-by-the-load practices that give drivers an incentive to travel through the capital as quickly as possible.
John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
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10 comments
If these architects have any ability to change the contracts which incentivise the high speed at which these tipper trucks are driven, that may make a significant difference.
Its not even that they are being driven at speed but through red lights, and this is the other side of the bridge that Moira Gemmill was killed on 2 weeks ago. I came through there on Saturday and saw (the aftermath of) a cyclist knocked off by a car.
I changed my route to work to avoid Lambeth Bridge and head over Westminster (not that its much better but there more room to move/escape), and I regularly see tipper trucks and cars jump the lights from Victoria Embankment onto Parliament Square, and from Embankment up Northumberland Avenue.
Speed is not really the issue. Its really a counter to the argument that 'London wasnt designed to have segregated cycle lanes everywhere': it certainly isnt designed or suitable to have HGVs being driving around at all.
As we've seen, tipper tricks can be driven by nearly anyone. I suspect the firms that hire these drivers are looking for anyone who will work for low pay and possibly even by the load, which should be illegal as it encourages risky behavior.
I think it would be sensible to restrict large construction vehicles to "approved" routes (that is, they use only a safety-vetted route to and from sites, not just any street they feel like) and also to non rush-hour periods. Yes, it would be inconvenient. Yes it would cost slightly more, but it could save many lives.
As we've seen, tipper tricks can be driven by nearly anyone. I suspect the firms that hire these drivers are looking for anyone who will work for low pay and possibly even by the load, which should be illegal as it encourages risky behavior.
I think it would be sensible to restrict large construction vehicles to "approved" routes (that is, they use only a safety-vetted route to and from sites, not just any street they feel like) and also to non rush-hour periods. Yes, it would be inconvenient. Yes it would cost slightly more, but it could save many lives.
Well, not quite. Apart from the very small, Transit type tippers all such vehicles should fall into LGV categories and the drivers would need to have passed the LGV test. This is not a simple test, and the lessons are not cheap. It would be very easy to spend two or three grand getting qualified.
So it's not that they can't drive well, it's that they don't want to; other priorities have taken over and vulnerable road users suffer.
Really, have your read this ?
http://road.cc/content/news/147873-uninsured-lorry-driver-pleads-guilty-...
Driving without the correct licence, the HGV industry make there money by going out of there way not to follow the rules.
http://road.cc/content/news/106178-two-thirds-lorries-stopped-police-are...
Most are being driven whilst being defective too. I don't think it too much to expect that they get there house in order. PEOPLE on bikes are not the problem.
Please sign the petition to eliminate advertising signs on roundabouts, which encourage accidents and are very dangerous places for cyclists
https://petitions.southglos.gov.uk/petitions.ti/
Cycling through and across London for more than a decade and have just never taken uneccesary risks. Stay clear of lorries. Even with improved mirrors, high visibility cabs, side-guards and alerting sensors they are big heavy machines that will kill you if you or they make a mistake.
Improve them, make them safer, but ultimately if cyclists and pedestrians are mixing with them there is going to be impact.
Stay safe. Think clear. Don't take unnecessary risks - its not worth it.
Apart from your self-righteous stance on this...
How do you suggest that we *magically* ensure no lorries (i.e. usually tipper trucks) do not overtake & left hook, drive right over us, or like happened the other day to me:
I'm in primary in the ASL, tipper truck goes just to the right of me, straddling two lanes and well into the ASL then turns left!
Thankfully I have enough sense to get the F out of there by moving myself onto the pavement double-quick... or I'd be dead.
The issue is the tipper trucks, not the cyclists. The responsibility is almost entirely with the drivers, not the cyclists.
When was the last time a cyclist even caused a lorry driver to get a scratch?
Jack, fair point but I'm not out to strike a self righteous tone, I'm sorry you see it that way. I'm all for safety improvements but we are in this together and we should look out for; and after each other.
If you understood my comment better you would see that the real problem is the mix of road users. Segregate lorries n some way, in addition to safety improvements and we'll reduce the awful fatalities we have seen in recent years.