As a councillor for East Dulwich and former chair of Southwark Cyclists I was horrified to hear of the tragic death of SE22 resident Chiara Giacomini last Wednesday.
The crash with a Veolia HGV happened on Thurlow Park Road near its junction with Gallery Road.
Cycling is incredibly safe but when it goes wrong with a lorry especially a HGV, waste or tipper lorry, it too often proves fatal. Our roads must be made safer and policing of all vehicles must stop being a low priority in London and the Dulwich area. Such HGVs have been involved in 53% of London cyclist deaths in the last four years, but they only account for 4% of traffic.
It will take an inordinate amount of time before the coroners rules on the this death but we must learn lessons from it.
The obvious lesson is that deaths will continue to happen when cyclists are being asked to mix it with lorries and buses etc.. How about some proper segregated cycle paths rather than the useless blue paint?