Morning:
13°c
10,000 lorries are given mirrors to save cyclists' lives
David Williams, Motoring Editor11.03.08
Lorry drivers in London are being handed 10,000 safety mirrors free of charge to help them spot cyclists.
It is a victory for the Evening Standard which demanded the mirrors in its Safer Cycling campaign.
Transport for London will this week hand out the devices, at a cost of around £40,000, to HGV drivers operating in the capital. The "Fresnel lenses" help drivers spot cyclists in their "blind spot", especially when turning left.
TfL says the campaign will tackle the biggest cause of cycle fatalities in the capital. More than half of all cycle deaths on London roads follow collisions with goods vehicles.
Jenny Jones, the Mayor's Road Safety Ambassador, said: "This is one of those simple ideas which will make a huge difference to Londoners' lives. It is a relatively cheap way for lorry drivers to avoid stress for themselves and death and injury to others. All lorries in London should have these lenses and all drivers should be reminded regularly to use them."
David Brown, Managing Director of Surface TfL, said: "Our new cycle safety campaign is designed to give both cyclists and goods vehicles drivers the tools they need to be safe and be seen on London's roads."
The decision to give away the lenses - costing £4 each - was welcomed by the London Cycling Campaign and the Freight Transport Association.
LCC spokesman Charlie Lloyd said: "We urge all freight operators in London to use these lenses which will help drivers see cyclists on their left side and remind them of their responsibility to ensure the safety of all vulnerable road users. The next step is for the Department for Transport to expedite fitting of EU standard safety mirrors on all large lorries in the UK."
To get the safety message home, TfL is launching a TV ad highlighting the dangers that trucks pose to cyclists.
It is also handing bicycle riders windup bicycle lights to make them more visible, while promoting free or subsidised adult cycle training.
Mayor Ken Livingstone said: "Cycling in London is getting much safer but one issue that has been very difficult to address until now is the fact more than half of cyclist fatalities on the capital's roads involve a collision with a goods vehicle. These safety lenses are a simple measure that will help drivers to see cyclists."
The Evening Standard demanded cycle safety mirrors in trucks in its 12-point charter calling for better safety and security for the capital's cyclists. The campaign was launched in April last year.
According to TfL, one cyclist is killed or seriously injured on the capital's roads each day.
Reader views (21)
Once again we treat the symptoms and not the cause! Its lorry drivers I feel sorry for a they will have to live with the cyclists actions for years to come.
I commute through London every day. I see cyclist putting themselves (and others) at risk time and time again. A lot of cyclists are nothing but a menace on the capitals roads and paths! I'm pleased the Met Police are now starting to prosecute them. Its long overdue!
- Rex, Basildon, Essex
Gosh don't people get cross when cyclists are mentioned! Adult cycle training would take care of almost all the complaints. The chap who uses all the cycle lanes and still gets trouble would learn that you need to judge each cycle facility on its usefulness and safety before deciding whether to use it or not. All would learn that going up the inside of a lorry, or actually waiting at a junction in a place on the road that allows a lorry or any driver to come up wait beside you is asking for trouble. And that anticipating and moving position so that you are seen and can see ahead and behind at all times makes cycling easy, empowering and safer. Motorists prefer it too if you don't disappear into gaps and appear again without looking behind and if you cycle in straight lines and signal clearly having checked to see if your change of direction is possible.
- Veronica, Bristol
I'm glad that some sensible safety precautions for cyclists have come in, can we now have some sensible safety precautions from cyclists too? It is a minority, but I'm afraid it's not a small one, that considers 1-way roads 2-way for cyclists, red lights at pedestrian crossings optional and pavements a cyclists right of way.
I note your picture, a cyclist at a safety event, wears dark clothes on a dark bike, without safety equipment or reflectors. He may show up in the wing mirror at the time of the photo but moment he moves into the shadow of a tree/building/van he becomes invisible, before joining the choir invisible! {Cough, cough, cough!}
- Ian, London
Fully support all aids to safety for all road users; but also take issue with an attitude which fails to take responsibility for own safety; what on earth is anyone doing cycling up on the inside of a bus or lorry - just wait for them to get out of the way - and what was the cyclist doing on the pavement this morning on Talgarth road, belling and shouting at me to get out of his way? All vehicles including bicycles should to made to carry visible registration plates and be properly insured.
- Shelagh, London
About time too, although lorry owners should be made to pay the costs, not Londoners.
Most lorries have room on the mirror frames for a secondary mirror to see down the Lower side of the vehicle.
All we need to do now, is get the drivers to use them.
- Terry, london, uk
This is a very commendable action by TFL and will go some way to making the daily commute a bit safer. However, the real issue for me is the standard of the road surface, particularly where contractors have been digging recently (water I think). The condition of some roads such as Old Broad St is actually dangerous for cyclists either hitting potholes or swerving to avoid them. I would have thought that anyone digging up a road could be obliged to leave it as or better than they found it.
- Jon, Chelmsford
This morning a huge lorry on Finchley Road actually stopped to let me through to go around broken down bus. I don't know whether it was the mirror or simply his courtesy but possibly a bit of both. When I looked up he smiled! Sometime ago a taxi driver stopped next to me to say 'well done, I used to cycle too'. I've been cycling for many years and this sort of thing doesn't happen very often unfortunately. However, it has to be acknowledged that pedestrians, drivers and cyclists are as bad or as good as each other. We all need to pay attention and look where we are going.. and be kind to each other.
- Ania, London
Why are huge lorries allowed into London anyway? One does not see them in Paris. Also what is that noxious stink that comes out of the back of buses? Can someone tell me? It is particularly noticeable when at bus stops. Also, why aren't London buses on Aquazol - a diesel 65% less polluting and with no need for engine change? It is used in Paris buses and they don't stink.
- Ivor, London, UK
I cycle 7 miles into central London each day all year round and have done for 6 years now. To those who think that obeying the highway code will save cyclists from injury then I challenge them to spend a week cycling in Central London. I have the brightest yellow jacket and not one but two of the brightest lights you can buy for the front and the brightest one available for the back. I also have a music player that plays music out loud through a speaker so people in front of me can hear me coming. If I rode according to the law in marked cycle/bus lanes obeying all traffic controls I would hit 2-3 pedestrians a week if I decided not to pre-empt some fool stepping out in front of me. Not to mention the black cabs, buses and white van men who forget I have a right to cycle in these lanes who rarely stop. When they do stop it is normally after racing to get past you before they pull over into the lane in front of you and stop like they are inches away from driving off a cliff.
- Greg, London, UK
What about road education for those pedal pushers hanging on the sides of lorries and buses. Or when they ride up the middle of the road when traffic is coming toward them causing oncoming traffic to swerve. I have witnessed this first hand as I m a lorry driver myself. What a waste of money.
- Rob, Devon, UK
I agree fair-weather cyclists who go around in a day dream, running red lights, even wearing flip-flops should wake up!
I don't do these things (been cycling all winter too) but have nearly come a cropper by cars, buses and lorries that don't indicate. They have to realise that those flashy things are not just there when you want to make an illegal manoeuvre (like U - turns or parking on double yellow lines) they are also there to tell other road users when you intend to do next. We're not mind readers, use them (along with your mirror's new Fresnel lenses!)
- Patrick, London
Good idea to help the road culture and promote health an safety.There would be a lot more people aware if the mayor got everyone on-board
- Emmet Turley, London
What a waste of public money, cyclists are always moaning yet pay nothing in, in any shape or form, just obey basic road safety rules, and you wont get hurt.
- Steve Mcguinness, London, UK
Stop whining about lorry drivers not using their mirrors, when was the last time you didn't see a lorry? They're quite conspicuous things, large, sometimes very colourful, it's difficult to miss seeing them really.
Its about time you realised that roads are dangerous and you have to look out for yourself because nobody else will. If you ride up the inside of a lorry or juggernaut by a left hand turn you are definitely looking to meet your maker. As a non-lorry driving cyclist/motorcyclist I think its about time you stopped thinking about how wonderfully green you're being and paid a bit more attention to what you're doing, and from my experience lots of you haven't got a clue what you're doing. With the warmer weather coming hoards of suicidal fair-weather cyclists will once again be blaming others for their lack of planning, foresight, anticipation and common sense.
- Steve, London
Not sure about rear view mirrors for pedestrians, it would be nice if pedestrians used their eyes at all before hurling themselves under the wheels of bikes passing along cycle lanes as often appears to happen in central London
- Mcw, London
The problem would not arise if cyclists obeyed the highway code and did not overtake on the inside!
- Bob Mason, Manchester, England
It's all very well giving lorry drivers better mirrors, getting them to actually bother looking in them is a completely different matter.
- Gt Zaskar, Holborn, UK
I don't suppose that anyone has thought of giving cyclist lessons in basic road safety as they often seem to be the architects of their own problems.
- Dr Finlays Casebook, London, UK
Now if we can get them to actually look in their mirrors...
- Kerry, London, UK
With all these cyclists whinging that it's everyone else's fault that they are killed or injured, despite so many of them not adhering to the rules of the road and not looking out for themselves. It will be very interesting to see just how many of them take up the offer of free or subsidised adult cycle training.
- Jh, London, UK
What a fantastic idea, does this mean pedestrians will be given free rear view mirrors, to make the pavements safer for us as well ?
Just a thought.
- Neil Grinsell, London, UK
