RoadPeace chair Cynthia Barlow has received a lifetime achievement award for her tireless campaigning to reduce lorry danger.

The award was presented to Cynthia at the Future Fleet Forum 2019, which was held at the Guildhall in London last month.

The judges praised her ‘determination to create a safer world’.

Cynthia’s only child, Alex McVitty, was 26 when she was tragically killed cycling in London in 2000, when the driver of a concrete mixer lorry turned left across her path.

In 2014, Cynthia was awarded an OBE for services to road safety and recently called for the Direct Vision Standard (DVS) for heavy goods vehicles to be supported across Europe.

The DVS assesses and rates how much a driver can see directly from their HGV cab in relation to other road users. This is important because research shows that the driver’s response to what he can see with his own eyes is faster than images seen through a camera and screen.

Research from Transport for London shows that between 2015 and 2017 HGVs were disproportionately involved in fatal collisions, with 63% involving people cycling and 25% related to pedestrians.

Ann-Marie Knegt, head of the judging panel and editor of Local Authority Plant and Vehicles (LAPV) and Fire and Rescue magazines said: ‘Cynthia has been involved in many areas of road danger reduction, but is especially engaged in tackling the dangers of HGVs to cyclists and other vulnerable road users and the responsibilities of freight operating companies.

‘Her campaigning has improved many safety standards and saved many lives. The judges classed her as the most deserving recipient of the lifetime achievement award, because of her determination to create a safer world for everyone.’

The LAPV Future Fleet Forum 2019 brought together fleet and transport managers from the public sector and its contracting organisations to address key challenges faced by the industry.

Cynthia said “I was really grateful to receive an acknowledgment of my work from the freight transport industry; we cannot make progress without the cooperation of the companies, operators and drivers working in the freight industry, and we all need to work together to implement the changes that need to happen.”

Updated on: 11 February 2019