Heavy goods vehicles make up 4% of the traffic on London's roads, but have been responsible for more than half of cyclist deaths over the past 4 years. On 4 September 2013, the Mayor of London and the Department for Transport announced proposals to reduce the number of cyclists' fatalities, including a proposal to impose a 'safer lorry charge' on any HGV which is not fitted with basic safety equipment. On the same day, another cyclist was crushed to death under a lorry. The driver was arrested at the scene of the crash. Karen Dee, Director of Policy at the Freight Transport Association, had this to say:
"FTA views the Mayor’s decision as unprecedented and authoritarian and considers it to be one that will create a mess of confused standards. A huge amount of investment has been made by responsible operators who have gone over and above the minimum legal requirements to ensure that safety equipment is fitted to their vehicles. There are better ways of achieving safe roads for all road users. We need to see cyclists taking responsibility for their actions, obeying traffic regulations, giving space to HGVs making manoeuvres and generally riding responsibly. Unless you also improve the behaviour of cyclists, the problem will not improve in the way that everyone wants. FTA now calls on government and cycling groups to work together in order to ensure that current and future cyclists obey the rules and share the road co-operatively and responsibly."
If cyclists' own actions cause their deaths under the wheels of lorries, it is difficult to explain why they are apparently behaving so much better around other vehicles, none of which cause cyclists' deaths in anything like the same numbers. The sad reality is that a proportion of Karen Dee's members increase their profits by ignoring basic safety requirements and that more cyclists are killed as a result. Karen Dee's comments display a callous disregard for human life. The FTA should sack her and begin to work for observance of safety standards by all its members.