London Cycle Safety Debate: Cheap Trixi Mirrors Could Save Cyclists' Lives

Copyright (c) 2011 Paul J

Cycling in London is dangerous. On average one cyclist is killed every month, and who knows how many others are injured in between. More needs to be done to improve certain stretches and crossroads across the capital.

I was unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of a close friend of mine being involved in an accident only days after she had bought a bicycle to use in and around London.

Sadly she did not survive the incident as she was crushed to death by an articulated Lorry at 3:20pm on Tuesday 5th April at a very busy and unforgiving crossroads in Camden, which is part of the stretch also known as 'Death Mile'.

The only solace I can get from this very tragic and devastating loss is that it was over for her in a flash, despite paramedics trying to resuscitate her for 40 minutes at the scene. She has left behind many devastated friends and an even more distraught family. She was Paula Jurek and was only 20 years old.

This accident has reopened the cycle safety debate in London and prompted us to try to understand why it has happened and why other cyclists have been killed so frequently on the roads in London. It seems like the effort Boris Johnson has made to encourage people to cycle in London by providing Boris bikes has been a great success along with making more cycle lanes too.

However, with him [Boris Johnson] encouraging people to cycle, he has to improve safety measures with more cyclists on the road in London, especially on certain crossroads to prevent any more fatalities from occuring again. Additionally, precautions need to be taken to save friends and family of the next victim from suffering the aftermath of what I, Paula's friends and family have suffered. It's just a big shame that it takes the death of a much loved and warm hearted young lady to be killed so brutally before any action is taken.

One solution which is so simple and easy to install is the "Trixi" mirror which is used in Switzerland and Germany to great effect. This is a mirror installed on traffic signal heads to enable HGVs to see down the side of their vehicles.

What makes the scarcity of this mirror worse is that this particular mirror would cost very little and could be installed immediately.

So, why are they so scarce in London? Wouldn't the 'Death Mile' in Camden be a good place to start?

After all this is where cyclist Paula Jurek was killed at the beginning of April just weeks ago, and since her death other accidents (thankfully not fatal) have also occurred in the very same place. How long will it be before the next cyclist falls victim to the roads?


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Please take a closer look at the London Cycle Safety petition created to put more pressure on Boris Johnson (Mayor of London) to introduce saftey measures to protect cyclists in London. Please voice your opinion today: The petition will be handed over to Boris Johnson on the 8th June 2011.