Speeding drivers are placing the lives of key workers at risk by flagrantly flouting the limit while roads are empty during the coronavirus lockdown, police said today.
Speeds of up to 142mph have been recorded in London as it was revealed there had been seven road deaths, including a woman cyclist in her twenties, in the past three weeks.
Transport for London said there had been a 68 per cent reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured on the capital’s roads since March 20.
However provisional data indicates that the crashes that have occurred have been more serious. The seven deaths also include three motorcyclists.
TfL today pleaded with Londoners not to take to the roads during the Easter weekend and to leave public transport free for key workers.
Detective Superintendent Andy Cox, head of the Met police’s road command, told LBC radio: “We are seeing speeds of 142mph, 140mph, 134mph. The 134mph was in a 40mph zone.
“In 20mph zones, roads are averaging 37mph, even though it’s 20mph [maximum]. These are the zones where our key workers are cycling to work, where there are pedestrians.”
Siwan Hayward, TfL’s director of compliance and policing, said: “We are doing all we can to ensure London’s critical workers — particularly those in the NHS — are able to travel safely to and from work.
“Simply put, no one should be travelling on the roads unless they’re making an absolutely essential journey, and that journey should be safe and under the speed limit.
“Breaking the speed limit is dangerous and especially reckless during this time of national crisis. Action will be taken against drivers who put themselves and others at risk.”
The cyclist death occurred on Tuesday morning in Worcester Park, Sutton. Police were called just before 9am to the A24 London Road at the junction with Tudor Avenue and Palmer Avenue.
The woman, said to be in her twenties, was in collision with two vehicles, the Met said.
Despite the efforts of passers-by, London’s Air Ambulance doctors and 999 emergency crews, she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Witnesses and drivers with dashcam footage are asked to call the Serious Collision Investigation unit.
A second cyclist suffered life-threatening injuries after a collision with a motorcycle near Euston station on Tuesday.
TfL today postponed the enforcement of new “direct vision” rules, due to start in October, requiring lorries to ensure drivers are better able to see cyclists and pedestrians.
There will also be a delay in the widening of low emission zone rules. The new rules will be delayed for at least four months.
