MILAN – Protesters call for urgent action after yet another cyclist has died after being run over and dragged for 300 metres by a lorry in what is the latest incident in a series of road accidents involving cyclists in Italy’s business capital. 

 The accident happened at 10:40 a.m. on Monday at the corner of Via Comasina and Via Novate, in the northern suburbs of the city. 

 According to initial reconstructions reported by Il Giorno, both the male cyclist, 55, and the lorry were travelling along Via Comasina in the direction of the city centre, with the bike to the right of the lorry. It is unclear at this stage of the investigations whether the cyclist was using the dedicated cycle lane or not. 

 When the lorry turned right into Via Novate, it hit the cyclist and dragged him for about 300 metres. 

 The man was taken to hospital in a serious condition but later died of his injuries. 

 This is the latest incident in a series of accidents involving cyclists in recent months in Milan. A sit-in protest took place on April 21 to ask local and national institutions to tackle, what protesters described as, “More than an emergency.”

 According to Legambiente Lombardia, from the beginning of November last year, four people have died because they were not seen when riding their bicycles. 

 “The problem is there. We are implementing measures that are both on the means for the recognition of the so-called blind spot and the improvement of bicycle lanes,” said the Mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala. “It is useless to deny it, there is a problem in a city that is so crowded,” he continued. 

 Legambici-Legambiente, Ciclobby and other associations released a joint statement calling for Sala to approve a new measure by July 1 to make the streets safer and to “tackle the issue of new urban mobility in all its aspects in a global and more incisive manner.”

 “When a lorry runs over a cyclist we can no longer speak of an “accident”. It is repeated too often: the blind spots prevent drivers from seeing what is happening around them,” say protesters who call for the introduction of sensors on lorries in the city. 

 “There has long been a solution to this major problem in London where sensors have been compulsory on every articulated vehicle driving around the city. This has drastically reduced the number of cyclists who are involved in accidents.”

cw