Saturday 10 October 2009

Lobby Gordon Brown

THE sister of a woman killed after being knocked off her bike by a lorry is lobbying the Prime Minister to prevent further loss of life.

Eilidh Cairns, 30, who was born in Alnwick and brought up at nearby Ellingham, died after the February collision in London, where she was living while working in film production.

Kate and a friend of Eilidh, keen cyclist Joanne Clegg, have now created a petition on the Prime Minister’s website, calling for the introduction of new measures to reduce to zero the number of cyclist fatalities caused by large goods vehicles. It is seeking driver training and vehicle improvements and a permit system to prevent vulnerable cyclists having to share city roads with large goods vehicles with limited visibility in rush hour.

To date, 1,600 people have signed up. But Kate said nothing has happened since her sister’s death to prevent more cyclists being killed by lorries.