Cyclists: Safety

Lord Davies of Oldham Excerpts

Thursday 30th January 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Davies of Oldham (Lab)]

My Lords, the greatest danger to cyclists, particularly in our towns, comes from heavy goods vehicles, which are responsible for 20% of cycling deaths, and a much greater percentage in London. Will the Minister note that the Mayor of London is at present berating the Government for their failure to accelerate actions in Europe to make European-wide provision for safety in terms of heavy good vehicles having the necessary equipment to see cyclists more readily? Will the Minister also join in Labour’s campaign to make cycling safe by addressing problems with heavy goods vehicles?

[Lord Popat]

My Lords, the differences between the Mayor of London and the Government on heavy goods vehicles cropped up this morning in the papers. I do not have a briefing on that subject but would be very happy to write to the noble Lord. We work continuously with a number of stakeholders, including the haulage industry, to make heavy goods vehicles safer. We have introduced Trixi mirrors and passenger left-hand side mirrors, and we will introduce sidebars for lorries. A number of other measures have also been taken, including written and oral tests for haulage drivers. However, we have to wait for what we call the cycle delivery plan, which will take a number of factors into account and is due out in autumn this year.