Cyclists: Safety

Debate between Lord Geddes and Lord Popat

Thursday 30th January 2014 Lords Chamber

[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.

[Lord Geddes (Con)]

My Lords, following up the supplementary question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Aberdare, does my noble friend agree that one way of improving cycling safety is to persuade cyclists to obey the law of the land?

[Lord Popat]

I thoroughly agree with my noble friend.