Campaigner helps to change law on HGV blind spots after sister’s …
For 14 years, Kate Cairns has had to live with the knowledge that her sister was killed while cycling to work because the driver of a tipper truck didn’t see her.
Eilidh Cairns, 30, was cycling to her job as a TV producer when she was crushed under the wheels of a lorry in Notting Hill Gate, in London, on February 5, 2009.
“She was a young woman. A healthy, strong 30-year-old who was just smashed into from behind. Her life was stolen and it happens again and again and again,” said Kate, a chartered civil engineer from Newton-by-the-Sea, Alnwick.[1]
She added: “When she was in London she loved to go everywhere on her bike. She cycled 20 miles each day for work. The same route for three years. She’d actually sat in a HGV and done the training on how dangerous HGVs are when she was in London. There’s nothing else she could have done to improve her situation.
“She was full of life and she was my best friend.”
Since Eilidh’s death Kate has been calling for stricter safety standards for heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) through her campaign, See Me Save Me. And now her determination is set to have a huge impact on road safety following the passing of a new law which means that all new HGV designs will have to meet the Direct Vision Standard (DVS) from 2026, and all HGVs from 2029.
The change will see cabs designed with larger windows at the front and side of the vehicle in order to reduce the number of blind areas for the driver.
Kate, 51, who has received a national ‘Above and Beyond’ Award by New Civil Engineer, said: “A couple of months ago I was driving from my house to Alnwick and I saw a lorry which had Direct Vision coming out of Alnwick and it was really poignant. I see them in London where they’re encouraged and they’re much more aware.
“But Eilidh was from Northumberland[2] and there’s a lad called Josh Jarvis, from Longhoughton, who was also killed by a truck in Manchester. That’s two young people from a very rural community affected by this issue. So it was reassuring and poignant to see that cab up here in Northumberland.”
The latest Government statistics show that there were 207 fatal collisions involving HGVs in the UK in 2021, 196 in 2020 and 251 in 2019. The new law will see 29 countries in the EU, US and Australia abide by the DVS, which is a huge step for the campaign which started out with Kate and her family visiting the European Parliament and knocking on the doors of 600 MEPs over three days.
“[I] screamed, shouted and cried to get people to take notice. 13 years ago nobody was interested and nobody was listening and now it’s happening,” said Kate, who originally set out with the aim to get more cameras and safety sensors to be installed in lorries.
Kate has received a national ‘Above and Beyond’ Award by New Civil Engineer for her See Me Save Me campaign (Image: handout)
However, she came to realise that this would be too excessive for drivers. The former Northumberland councillor added: “They can’t look in six different mirrors and have a camera to look at and sensors beeping, they would get cognitive overload.”
In 2011, with the support of Transport for London (TfL), Kate began calling for a change in EU law for HGVs to be designed with better vision. Her mission was to have HGVs designed like a cockpit.
In 2019, TfL launched a DVS safety permit scheme in the capital, which requires all operators of HGVs weighing more than 12 tonnes to apply for a free safety permit. Following the introduction of DVS in London, fatal collisions where vision is a factor have fallen by 75%, TfL reports.
Kate, who also runs her own consultancy business[3], said: “It’s been a really long, hard battle with a lot of struggle. But what is really rewarding now is that I’m asked for advice and information. I’m a freelance consultant and I do professional speaking, training and advice, rather than fighting to be heard through press, TV, radio and direct action.
“I’d go to conferences and challenge chief executives from the floor of the conference. Now I’m invited on stage as a key speaker. I’m being commissioned for advice rather than being the disrupter, the agitator and that shows real change. People are ready to hear it now.”
References
- ^ Alnwick. (www.chroniclelive.co.uk)
- ^ Northumberland (www.chroniclelive.co.uk)
- ^ consultancy business (www.linkedin.com)