Minor changes to the safety equipment of lorries in Central London have been introduced, in an attempt to make the city safer for cyclists.
Of course, the people who drive massive dangerous vehicles around have complained. Natalie Thompson, of the Fleet Transport Association, said,
'Funds used to launch the scheme would be better spent on targeting "a small proportion of lorries that don't comply with existing regulations".'
Last year, nearly three quarters of construction lorries stopped in a campaign were illegal. They barely found a legal cement lorry. In May, 95 out of 136 lorries inspected in the City had to be taken off the road.
So maybe the FTA are right. We should crackdown on the small majority of lorries that are breaking all the rules. And we should be fitting better equipment also on the large minority that aren't.
“Cement” is not synonymous with “concrete”, a mistake apparently made by Pope Francis in Laudato si’, paragraph 44.
ReplyDeleteThe source material, Cycle Travel, correctly states “concrete mixers were particularly dangerous, with only one in eight compliant”.
Yeah yeah yeah.
DeleteWell, you wouldn't expect accuracy from cyclists, would you? (particularly given the tenuous grip they have on the meaning of red traffic lights and no entry signs)
ReplyDelete