One of my dear friends is running a campaign to lobby Mayor Boris Johnson to improve conditions for pedestrians on London's Oxford Street through pedestrianization and he'd love your help. Here are some facts: accident rates on Oxford Street are 35 times the average of all other London streets and there's a collision involving a bus every 3.4 days. Since 2000, over a thousand casualties have resulted from bus-pedestrian accidents on Oxford Street and over 200 pedestrians have been killed or seriously-injured - often it's children or the elderly who are most vulnerable. While buses deliver many people to and from Oxford Street, much of the time the nearly 300 buses per hour running along the street are empty.
Our friend Tom, a dad to two young DSs, was hit while still on the kerb of Oxford Street by a 16 ton bendy bus in Dec 2009. The impact burst both his lungs and he was in a coma for two weeks and in hospital for months. He was very lucky to survive, and it took him two years to recover fully.
He knows if he can get Mumsnetters' support for his initiative then someone might listen, so I promised him I'd ask you. When you speak to him he really does have an amazing story to tell and compelling arguments why this makes sense, so I hope you don't mind me asking you, if you do agree with him, to sign this petition today (and send it to a friend :)). It will take less than 30 seconds of your time. There's a major meeting with Westminster Council to discuss pedestrian fatalities and serious injuries on Oxford Street on March 14th and it would be great if we could boost the numbers he can present.
Thanks so much and if you have any questions about what he's trying to do, or comments that he might be able to use to support his campaign, please don't hesitate to ask/post and I'll get him to answer.
Thanks again
Carrie