As part of her campaign to make cycling safer, Theresa Villiers, MP for Chipping Barnet, is encouraging her constituents to respond to the Safer Lorries Scheme consultation being run by Transport for London.
This consultation is considering how to make HGVs safer and reduce the risk that they will be involved in collisions with cyclists. The ideas under consideration include making sideguards and safety mirrors compulsory for HGVs.
Theresa Villiers said: "I am very supportive of efforts being made by the Mayor, TfL and the Police to make cycling safer. I am campaigning to make our roads safer for cyclists."
"The Safer Lorries consultation is the latest in a number run by the Mayor to work out the best way to make cycling safer in London. It's a tragedy that a number of cyclists have been killed or seriously injured in collisions involving lorries. I would urge all my cycling constituents to respond to the consultation so that we can see sideguards and safety mirrors introduced for more HGVs."
"There may be some further detail to work out regarding how this would work in practice, for example regarding how to deal with smaller HGVs, but the principle is the right one; we should try to ensure that we have maximum coverage across the HGV fleet for sideguards and safety mirrors. Ensuring lorry drivers have better visibility of HGVs is a crucial way to prevent accidents."
"As a cyclist myself and someone who has had a couple of crashes, I'm very conscious of cycling safety issues. I will continue to work hard to see London's streets made safer for cyclists."
The consultation closes on 22nd September and can be found at:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2014/july/safer-lorries-scheme-consultation