13,000-signature End Lorry Danger petition delivered to London's City Hall

More than 13,000 people have signed a petition, delivered to City Hall this morning, urging Mayor of London Boris Johnson and Transport for London (TfL) to End Lorry Danger in the capital.

It calls for a ban on HGVs at rush hour, greater use of direct vision lorries, and greater enforcement with regard to operators whose practices put lives at risk.

The petition comes in a year when lorries have been involved in seven of the eight cyclist fatalities in the city, and was delivered to four London Assembly members – Andrew Boff (Conservative), Darren Johnson (Green). Caroline Pidgeon (Lib Dem) and Valerie Shawcross (Labour).

Last week they joined their colleagues in the assembly in unanimously endorsing a motion calling, among other things, for lorries to be banned in London at peak times.

– London Assembly votes unanimously for rush hour lorry ban

Organised by the London Cycling Campaign (LCC), it was handed over by the group’s chief executive Ashok Sinha and cyclist David Muslin.

He said: “I was hit by a lorry on Finchley Road in July 2013. But I’m lucky – I survived. The same year, 14 cyclists lost their lives to lorries in London.

“That’s why I’m joining the London Cycling Campaign and the London Assembly Members in asking the Mayor to ‘End Lorry Danger’.

“I don’t want anyone else on a bike, or on foot, to go through what I did – let alone what others have.”

Mr Sinha said: “More and more Londoners are choosing to cycle and walk. And more of us have to, to keep our city moving.

“But routinely mixing those people with HGVs not only leads to an unacceptable loss of life, but also makes our streets too scary for many to cycle on.

“Over 13,000 of us are now calling on our current Mayor and the next one, to End Lorry Danger now. We hope they listen.”

The politicians who received the petition endorsed its message.

 Ms Pidgeon said that together with last week’s vote by the London Assembly, it “sends out a very clear message that real action is now needed to reduce the casualties and terrible waste of human life taking place on London’s roads.”

Ms Shawcross added: “London should be taking a zero tolerance approach to all road deaths and, as part of that, doing everything we can to reduce the dangers posed to cyclists by lorries and HGVs.”