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British Cycling’s Policy Adviser Chris Boardman has written to the Mayor of London to ask him to put into action his promise to look at removing the most dangerous lorries from the capital’s roads during the busiest times.

"Let’s not waste this opportunity to do something now. The longer we delay, the more lives will be lost."

Chris Boardman

In his open letter, written in response to the six cyclist deaths on the capital’s road in the last two weeks, Boardman reminded the Mayor that he made a promise eight months ago to study the experiences of cities such as Paris and Dublin where lorries over a certain size are restricted from entering certain parts of the city during peak hours.

Chris Boardman’s letter to the Mayor states: “When I rode alongside you to help you launch your vision for cycling in March this year, you made a verbal promise to look at the successful experiences of Paris and many other cities in restricting the movements of heavy vehicles during peak hours.

“London has an opportunity to emulate and surpass Paris and to lead the way for the other ambitious cycling cities across Britain. Let’s not waste this opportunity to do something now. The longer we delay, the more lives will be lost.”

There have now been six cycling fatalities on the capital’s roads in two weeks and a total of 14 so far in 2013. HGVs were involved in nine of the fatal crashes – that’s 64% of the fatalities - despite making up less than 5% of traffic. In Paris, last year there were zero cyclist fatalities.

The full text of Chris Boardman’s letter to the Mayor is available here.