The FTA has welcomed a new safety initiative by insurance firm Aviva aimed at reducing the number of collisions between cyclists and LGVs - but has stressed that cyclist safety is not just a matter for truck operators.
From the beginning of November, Aviva has begun working on two initiatives with LGV fleets it insures – one involving the provision of adhesive decals for vehicles warning cyclists to stay clear; the other involving the supply of Fresnel lenses for use on nearside windows to improve the driver’s view of blind spots below and behind the cab.
Describing collisions between cyclists and HGVs as “a critical road safety issue”, Ian Ferguson, chief underwriting officer, intermediary business at Aviva said: “By helping our fleet customers take a couple of small steps to make cyclists visible to drivers and alert cyclists about the dangers of riding along the inside of a lorry, we hope we can play our part in reversing the shocking increase in the number of cyclists killed or suffering life-changing injuries”.
Christopher Snelling, head of urban logistics policy at the FTA, told Motortransport.co.uk he welcomed the move. “Fresnel lenses are very useful for improving visibility, and anything that increases awareness, whether for drivers or cyclists, is absolutely a good thing,” he said.
But the onus for improving cyclist safety does not just reside with truck drivers and operators, he stressed. “Logistics companies are investing thousands in new equipment for their vehicles and in training for their drivers – we’re all about continuous improvement. And we want to see the same kind of continuous improvement from public authorities, in terms of the infrastructure on the roads, and from cyclists, in terms of how they behave on the roads,” he said.
Snelling also pointed out that official figures cited by Aviva showing HGVs were involved in over 50% of cyclist fatalities in London from 2008-2012 were not representative of the wider national picture, where the figure is around 20%.
“I think if you are looking at a national issue, you should really use the national picture,” he said. “Obviously, London has particular problems and isn’t representative of what’s going on in the whole of the UK.”
DfT figures show that in 2012, there were 17,941 reported accidents involving cyclists and one other vehicle across Great Britain, of which 358 (1.9%) involved LGVs and 15,463 (86%) cars. In all, there were 118 fatal incidents involving cyclists, of which 23 (19.5%) involved LGVs.
Even in London, it seems, the exact percentage of cyclist fatalities involving HGVs appears to vary. A road safety factsheet published in October by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) stated that HGVs were a factor in just 20% of cyclist fatalities in the capital in 2012. A spokeswoman for the Greater London Authority, meanwhile, told us that so far in 2013, there had been nine cyclist fatalities in London of which seven (77%) involved an LGV.
