Plans to ban LGVs from entering London during the busiest times of the day could be adopted by other cities across the UK, experts have said.
The proposal is one of a range of measures included in London mayor Boris Johnson’s blueprint for cycling in the capital that are targeted at the haulage industry, but which are likely to have wider implications.
Christopher Snelling, head of urban logistics at the FTA, said this and other measures in the blueprint would be “tested by London first with others emulating that”.
The FTA said banning lorries from parts of London during certain times of the day would place difficult burdens on businesses, a problem that could be even worse in other cities with smaller economies.
Published last week, the blueprint includes plans to close legal loopholes exempting operators from fitting cycle-safety devices such as sideguards and mirrors on some LGVs. The mayor also wants to see anti-collision technology, such as sensors and side cameras, fitted to all new CVs and retrofitted wherever possible.
The blueprint also recommends that cyclist awareness training should become a mandatory part of the basic Driver CPC training qualification. Technology, while part of the solution, should not “swamp the driver”, it adds.
Other measures include the introduction of dedicated lanes segregating cyclists from other road users on some of the busiest sections of London’s road network, as well as the building of a 15-mile cycle ‘superhighway’ stretching from Canary Wharf to the outer western boroughs.
A report by the Transport Research Laboratory earlier this year concluded that more research was required as to whether additional safety technology on trucks was the right way to go.
