采訪者： 科爾•莫頓(Cole Moreton) 講述者：辛西婭•巴洛(Cynthia Barlow)
![]() 我女兒在騎車途中與一輛運送水泥的卡車相撞身亡，之后的庭審讓我覺得毫無意義。我變得極度消沉，差一點就完全放棄了。但我沒有，相反，我感到憤怒，心里想：“不，我依然是她的母親，我不能讓制度如此對待亞歷克斯(Alex)”。因此，我購買了撞死她的那輛貨車所屬公司的股票。這是我能想到的唯一辦法，讓他們當面來見我，并聽聽我必須要說的一些話。
亞歷克斯去世時26歲，到上個月剛好10年。她擁有碩士學位，在倫敦金融城(the City)的一間律師事務所獲得了一份新工作。也是在那里，她結識了她的男朋友。事故發生時，她正騎車去上班。她的生命才剛剛開始，就被無情地奪走了。
我購買了Readymix公司（當時名為RMC集團)價值500英鎊的股票——這足以讓我擁有在年度股東大會上提問的權利。大會召開地點是公園路(Park Lane)附近一家富麗堂皇的酒店。當時我非常緊張，不過一個朋友在恰當的時機把我的手猛推到了半空中，于是我讀出了之前準備好的文字。我想知道事故是如何發生的，為何會發生，以及他們如何能避免悲劇重演。所有人都安靜了下來。隨后，主席先生要求負責安全與健康的董事與我聯系。沒想到他真的這么做了：他來到倫敦，然后我們開始一起工作。
如果仔細察看數據，你就會發現建筑行業是騎車人殺手——水泥攪拌車、自卸貨車、還有翻斗車。事故誘因有很多，比如車輛設計、司機的培訓、行為和態度。即便如此，我還是和西麥斯公司(Cemex，英國RMC現已被其收購)做了許多工作。首先，我們制作了一段司機培訓視頻，提醒他們顧及弱小的馬路使用群體。然后，我開始研究警方在女兒死亡報告上列出的每一個要點。
亞歷克斯是一名老練的自行車騎手，所走的路線也是她熟悉的倫敦墻(London Wall)大街，并且還戴著一條非常顯眼的肩帶。她與身旁的貨車隔著相當一段距離，而且警方證據顯示，在整個過程中，司機用的鏡子里至少有一面可以看到她。為了在一個交叉路口向左急轉彎，那個司機駛出車道向右側靠。這一靠正好斬斷了她的去路。他還不知道自己已經將她撞倒，路人的驚呼聲提醒了他，車才停下來。
他們不允許我去停尸房看她。我甚至連握住她手的機會都沒有。如今我才明白他們是在保護我，不想讓我看到她的慘樣。但是我希望他們能事先告訴我這點，或者讓我自己選擇。
我們在貨車身上做了許多改進。直到我女兒和貨車并排行駛時，司機才打開左轉指示燈，所以她根本看不到指示。從此以后，公司在所有車輛的前面都增加了一個指示燈，讓在一旁并排行駛的人也能看到。公司還增加了幾面鏡子，在卡車側面安裝了四個新的接近感應器。這些感應器會激活車內的警報，告訴司機車邊有人以及他們的方位。同時，它還會啟動一段語音提示：“注意，卡車左轉”。
多虧我們所做的這些改進，西麥斯的卡車不再是馬路殺手。我希望我所做的事拯救了許多生命。然而，牽涉到其它建筑公司的事故依然在發生。
女兒出事那年，我正在倫敦大學(University of London)工作。當時最不想做的事就是回去工作，但我知道每天早晨硬著頭皮去面對世界或許正是我該做的事。我非常感謝我的雇主：他們支持我一路走了下來。
2007年退休時，我本想靠作畫來打發時間。結果卻事與愿違：我當上了一個慈善組織的主席。組織名為和平之路(RoadPeace)，其宗旨是為有親人因交通意外事故而受傷和喪生的家庭提供實際和情感上的支持。亞歷克斯會為我感到自豪嗎？我希望她會。她就像我的朋友一樣——是個優秀、才華橫溢、可愛的人兒，她永遠不會希望我放棄的。
FIRST PERSON: CYNTHIA BARLOW
As told to Cole Moreton
When my daughter died after being struck on her bike by a cement lorry, I found the inquest a complete nonsense. I went into a deep depression and could have given up entirely. Instead, I got angry and thought, “No, I am still her mother and the system is not going to treat Alex this way.” So I bought shares in the company that owned the lorry that killed her. It was the only way I could think of to get them to face me in person and listen to what I had to say.
Alex was 26 years old when she died, 10 years ago last month. She had a masters degree and a new job with a legal firm in the City, where she had met her boyfriend. She was cycling to work when it happened. Her life was just beginning when it was taken from her.
I bought £500 worth of shares in Readymix, or RMC as it then was: enough to give me the right to ask questions from the floor at their AGM. The meeting was at a very grand hotel near Park Lane. I was very nervous, but a friend thrust my hand into the air at the right time, and I read out what I had prepared. I wanted to know what had happened, why it happened and how they could stop it happening again. Everyone went quiet. Then the chairman asked the board member responsible for health and safety to contact me. To my surprise, he did; he came to London and we began working together.
If you go through the statistics, it is the construction industry that is killing cyclists – concrete mixers, tipper lorries, skip lorries. There are several factors in this: vehicle design, driver training, and behaviour and attitudes. But I have done a lot with Cemex, as the company is now known. First, we made a training video for drivers, to get them thinking about vulnerable road users. Then I took up every point that was made in the police report on my daughter's death.
Alex was an experienced cyclist on a familiar route along London Wall, and she was wearing a high-visibility sash. She was alongside the lorry for a considerable distance and the police evidence found that she was visible in at least one of the driver's mirrors the whole time. He pulled out to the right at a junction in order to turn sharp left, cutting across her path. He didn't know he'd run her down. The noise of passers-by alerted him and he stopped.
I was never allowed to see her at the mortuary. I wasn't even offered the chance of holding her hand. I know now that they were protecting me from the sight of her, but I wish they had told me that, or given me a choice.
We have made a lot of changes to the lorries. The driver only indicated to turn left when my daughter was already alongside, so she wouldn't have been able to see the indicator. The company has since put an extra indicator at the front of every vehicle, one that someone riding alongside can see. There are also extra mirrors and four new proximity sensors along the side of the lorry. These activate an alarm in the cab that tells the driver there is someone alongside, and where they are. It also sets off a voice box which says, “Caution, truck turning left.”
Thanks to the adaptations we have made, Cemex lorries have stopped killing people. I hope that what I have done has saved a lot of lives. There are, however, still cases involving other construction companies.
When my daughter was killed, I was working at the University of London. The last thing I wanted to do was go back to work, but I knew that having to face the world in the morning was probably the right thing. I'm very grateful to my employers: they supported me through all of this.
When I retired, in 2007, I intended to spend my time painting. It hasn't worked out that way. Instead, I became the chair of a charity called RoadPeace, whose mission is to empower and support the families of those who are killed and injured on the roads. Would Alex be proud of me? I hope she would. She was my friend – a good, talented, lovely person who would never have wanted me to give up. |
發表于 2010-8-26 13:40:13
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