Iris' Story

Iris’ partner Lidia was killed by a left turning HGV in May 2013. She tells us her story in her own words:
‘The police showed up at my workplace to inform me of Lidia’s death. The whole experience was both surreal and shocking to have police show up to inform you of a loved one’s death.
Shock, denial and then pure anger, anguish and grief.
I felt total disbelief at what the police said to me, I had to ask them several times if they had the information right, and it was in fact Lidia. I felt shock and denial initially, until it finally sank in. Then pure rage and anger, mixed with grief and trauma.
Lidia was on a 50cc moped on London Road near Forest Hill. There was a HGV carrying copper pipes, making a left hand turn. She was caught in the HGV’s blind spot.
It was the all too common incident of being unseen by the driver making a left hand turn, and Lidia being caught in the blind spots of the HGV.
It completely changed my life and the person I now am. At the time I was consumed with grief and trauma, not wanting to live and wondering how I would go on in life.
I felt broken as a person, as a soul. And it changed all the plans we had for our future.
Now I have a different life, to the one I imagined. I see and treat life so differently now, my attitudes to life have changed. I don’t make plans anymore, try and live more in the moment. Life is so precious, but also so unpredictable. So now I try and live and enjoy my life to the full, while always honouring Lidia’s memory and her life by living my own to its fullest.
CLOCS And The Industry
There are now over 600 CLOCS champions from the construction industry, but with over 300,000 working across the UK, there’s still a way to go.
Why Is CLOCS Good For The Construction Industry?
Aside from the moral duty to protect other human beings, there are a number of benefits to the construction industry:
- No driver wants to be involved in a collision - be it fatal, serious or otherwise. This can have serious consequences for them mentally and physically, mean long periods of time off work and possibility even giving up driving altogether. CLOCS helps the construction industry to protect their employees.
- CLOCS future proofs vehicles. Legislation is moving to protect vulnerable road users and there are new legal requirements which operators have to adhere to. For example TFL are rating lorries with the Direct Vision Standard from 0 to 5 star based on how much drivers can see out of their vehicles. Signing up to CLOCS mitigates the risk of having to upgrade an entire fleet as new legislation comes in.
- The safety of vehicles inevitably affects insurance premiums as crashes are less likely to occur.
- Procurement departments for construction projects may increasingly feel more comfortable utilising CLOCS approved contractors as awareness of the scheme rises. For example as more Councils join the scheme they will be encouraged to only use CLOCS approved companies for their construction work
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