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Time to teach cyclists about a duty of care and not just truck drivers
Page 21
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I READ with great interest the article you published about Norwich Union's interest in blindspot mirrors.
Your piece on blindspot mirrors and cyclists (CM, 8 May) is valid as far as it goes, but it is surely unbalanced.
However, the news story does make some valid and useful points.
An improved field of vision should help a driver to see cyclists that may be otherwise hidden down at the rear or side of his vehicle, as well as reduce the number of cyclists killed and injured by trucks, This is an objective the Road Haulage Association fully supports.
I agree with Norwich Union that the industry can do more, But moral obligations and duty-of-care considerations apply also to cyclists, who are too often unaware of, or careless as to, the dangers in which they put themselves.
Driving large vehicles on the UK's overcrowded roads is a difficult and stressful task, carried out by drivers who are for the most part well-trained, dedicated and doing an essential job for which they are poorly appreciated — not least by cyclists.
Both parties need to understand the requirements of the other, and that means education for cyclists as least as much for professional drivers. Until the need for cyclist education is more widely accepted, fitting more and more mirrors will help with only half of the problem.
Steve Biddle