There must be greater separation of cyclists from other traffic, more education of the risk large vehicles pose, and continuing efforts by LGV operators to enhance vehicle safety if more cycling deaths are to be avoided.

Speaking after the death of the fifth cyclist on a London road in the last nine days, this time after a collision with a bus at Whitechapel, both the FTA and RHA have called for action.

A spokesman for the RHA said: “The RHA and our members will be saddened to hear of the latest deaths.

“The lack of suitability [of roads] has been highlighted by the RHA and the coroner in London [Mary Hassall last month ruling on the death of 2011 death of Brian Dorling at Bow roundabout], but there is a danger of a focus on LGVs and we need a balance.

“We need to separate the cyclist as much as possible. There is no definition of what is a safe road and the coroner in London thinks the cycle superhighways are unsafe. These accidents very often cause great trauma to the LGV driver involved, who is very often not at fault.

"The vast majority of LGV drivers in London do a very good job in difficult circumstances.”

Christopher Snelling, heard of urban logistics policy at the FTA, which recently warned that cycle safety was not just a truck operator issue, said: “The logistics industry has spent a lot of money [on the problem] and will need to carry on doing that in the future, with continued improvements to vehicles and upgraded driver training.

“What the last week or so has demonstrated - and where a lot of the questions now are - is that the quality of cycling infrastructure is just as important, as obviously, a lot of these deaths have centred around particular pieces of infrastructure.

"It's raising questions about the complete run of these routes and how safe they are. That's something for the public authorities to think about.”

He added that while the FTA supported the cycle superhighway plan in general, some are in use before they are perhaps quite ready and do not offer the full segregation of road users it would like to see.

“In general, we think a greater safety awareness by cyclists - in terms of how to behave around LGVs, would be massively beneficial. We'd recommend any adult going to cycle on the streets of a city like London should take cycle training,” said Snelling, who sees addressing the issue against the backdrop of increasing cyclist numbers as a national issue for road transport.

The latest death came a day after Venera Minakhmetova was killed in a crash with a lorry at Bow Roundabout.

It means thirteen cyclists have died on London's roads so far this year, compared with fourteen in 2012. Eight of this year's fatal accidents have involved LGVs.

TfL response

In response TfL issued a statement on behalf of London mayor Boris Johnson. “Any death on London’s roads is a tragedy and my thoughts are with the families and friends of the cyclists who have lost their lives.

“In the past decade, the number of cyclists in the capital has almost trebled and it is absolutely vital that we continue to invest huge sums of money into improving cycling infrastructure and making it as safe as possible.

"I’ve committed almost £1bn to doing just that, with major improvements being made to junctions and superhighways across London and plans to ensure LGVs not fitted with safety equipment will face charges. More work is underway and, although changes cannot be made instantly, they are being done as quickly as possible – this is and remains an absolute priority for me, my team and TfL.”

Nationally, the DfT reported there were 118 cycling fatalities in 2012, with 23 deaths attributed to LGVs.

See our News Extra: Cycling - are hauliers doing enough? for more on the subject.

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