Camden New Journal - News: MP highlights risks to cyclists

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Camden New Journal - by PAUL KEILTHY
Published: 27 September 2007

Emma Foa

MP highlights risks to cyclists

THE death of a Hampstead cyclist who was crushed under the wheels of a cement truck in King’s Cross highlights the threat posed by construction traffic, according to a campaigning film due to air next week.
Four days before Christmas, writer and jeweller Emma Foa, 56, was caught under the wheels of a cement mixing truck as it turned left off Camley Street – one of 10 cyclists killed in London this year.
The truck’s driver was fined £300 and given five points on his licence when he pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention last Wednesday. On Wednesday night, Islington MP Emily Thornberry will present a feature on BBC’s Inside Out London, arguing that with London’s streets increasingly filled with construction traffic, death’s like Ms Foa’s will only be prevented if truck companies adopt European standard wing mirrors which help drivers spot cyclists alongside them.
In the film, Mrs Foa’s husband Reg Wright describes how she was caught alongside the cement truck at the traffic lights and fell under the rear wheels as it turned, and tells Ms Thornberry: “Her delight in life was really infectious and people loved her. It’s like a door slamming and then it’s over and that’s it. It’s over then.”
Although the EU mirrors – which include a curved glass giving a view to the rear of long vehicles, eliminating the blind spot – are fitted as standard on all new construction vehicles, Ms Thornberry will call on building firms to retro fit their existing stock.

• Blind Spot will air on BBC Inside Out London, BBC 1 at 7.30pm on Wednesday.

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