Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of phasing out externally audible warning devices that activate when heavy goods vehicles are reversing and in their place require those vehicles to be fitted with reversing cameras.

It is the driver’s responsibility to ensure that they manoeuvre their vehicle safely. Reversing cameras can assist by making it easier for them to see people and hazards around their vehicle, and work is underway internationally to improve direct and indirect vision for drivers. External audible alarms are complementary and are intended to warn people outside a vehicle that it is reversing. There are no plans to assess the phasing out of external audible alarms.