Do you understand that when a HGV is travelling on the highway ; –
- the Driver is subject to the provisions of the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974
- his employer is subject to the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007
- they are both subject to a whole host of other legislation and regulatory requirements – too many to list here
Tragically a young woman lost her life using a motorised scooter, as reported in yesterday’s Evening Standard, in a shared road space with a Heavy Goods Vehicle and while none of us are in full possession of the all of the facts some are obvious; –
- her vehicle was not legally allowed to be ridden in the UK unless on private land
- the idea that there vehicles are designed or built with the intent to use them on private land is nothing short of laughable
- There is an acceptance and an almost resignation that these vehicles will become more and more commonplace on UK roads – whatever the law of the day states
Governments are put in place to protect people, even from themselves, and the reluctance to legislate for fear impinging on personal freedoms cannot be allowed to win over that government’s duty to remind it’s people that THEY have a responsibility to themselves and the impact of their actions on wider society, in our opinion
- those vehicles need to be subject to licencing and safety checks for use on the road
- Riders must be required to undertake compulsory training and hold a licence prior to using the road space
One thing is certain, the velocity at which the human body travels on one of these vehicles WILL prove fatal WHEN they come into contact with a pedestrian or cyclist