Vialux Cyclomir Traffic Safety Convex Mirror

Cycle safety campaigners have called for the government to change regulations that prohibit the installment of safety mirrors on dangerous junctions without personal approval from the Secretary of State for Transport.

In 2011, the number of cyclists killed in street accidents in London rose to 16, up on the 10 deaths in 2010. The question of cycle safety is predicted to play an important role in London’s capital mayoral elections in May 2012.

The leader of the Lib Dem London Assembly Group, Caroline Pidgeon, who also chairs the transport committee, noted that it is high time that real protective measures were taken in order to improve road safety for cyclists, as the number of cyclists killed and hurt rose not just in the capital city but across the country as a whole.

She proposes that in London actions are taken to protect cyclists on the most dangerous junctions and that cyclists and lorry drivers are given more training. In addition, Pidgeon thinks that greater use of 20mph speed limits, in residential areas in particular, would also be beneficial.

Pidgeon pointed out that the bureaucratic restrictions on installing safety mirrors is a major obstacle to cyclist safety, as they are known to remove blind spots at junctions and are equally well accepted by cyclists and lorry drivers. According to Pidgeon, hundreds of junctions need safety mirrors but their introduction is delayed by bureaucracy.