Galloway backs tragic cyclist Chrystelle's campaign
by Victoria Huntley GEORGE Galloway has joined the campaign to make the East End s roads safer for cyclists following the death of a young woman in Whitechapel last month
GEORGE Galloway has joined the campaign to make the East End's roads safer for cyclists following the death of a young woman in Whitechapel last month.
Keen cyclist Chrystelle Brown, 26, died after she was in collision with a lorry at the junction of Vallance Road and Whitechapel Road on the morning of September 16.
She was the ninth cyclist to die on London's roads recently and her death has sparked a campaign to redesign the crossroads to make it safer for cyclists.
Now the Bethnal Green and Bow MP has written to the Government's department of transport, Tower Hamlets council leader Cllr Lutfur Rahman and the council's interim chief executive Kevan Collins to urge them to make safety improvements.
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In his letters to the council and junior minister for transport safety Paul Clark, Mr Galloway calls for plans all heavy goods vehicles to be fitted with mirrors and sensors providing "all round vision" to be brought forward.
The Government plans to ensure that safety mirrors are made compulsory for heavy goods vehicles by 2014, as required under European law.
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Mr Galloway said: "It is self-evident that cyclists remain vulnerable particularly to large vehicles.
"I would like to urge that you speed up the compulsory introduction of these mirrors, given the number of unnecessary injuries to and deaths of cyclists on our roads."
The family of Chrystelle, who lived in Stoke Newington and worked as a fitness instructor in Canary Wharf, have set up an online petition calling for the redesign of the crossroads where she died.
So far nearly 2,500 people have put their names to the petition, which also calls for safety mirrors for lorries.
To sign Chrystelle's petition, visit http://www.gopetition.co.uk/petitions/save-cyclists-lives.html
