Staines News

London bus drivers get special lessons

10:30am Sunday 8th August 2010

Bus drivers have been given special cycle awareness training as part of an innovative new scheme run by Lambeth Council to cut road deaths and injuries involving cyclists.

The scheme - the first of its kind – is seeing Lambeth Council working with bus operators Abellio and Go-Ahead, which operate routes across South London.

The council, and its cycle training provider, Cycle Training (UK), has been leading the way in promoting cycling safety to drivers of HGVs, and was the first council in London to train all its refuse vehicle and school bus drivers in cycle awareness.

The drivers were given classroom lessons and practical on and off-road cycle training to help them understand the dangers faced by cyclists, particularly how they can be caught in a bus’s blind spot.

Cyclists are particularly in danger if they cycle on the left hand side of a bus or HGV because of the poor view of that side of the vehicle that drivers have from the cab.

At the end of the course, the participants become fully qualified cycle trainers, and will now train up their colleagues as part of their statutory periodic training.

All professional bus, coach and lorry drivers are required to hold a certificate of professional competence and must complete 35 hours of training over a five year period in order to retain their certificate.

Councillor Nigel Haselden, the council’s deputy cabinet member for sustainability and transport, said: “More and more people are taking up cycling and figures show that while twice as many people are cycling in Lambeth than 10 years ago, the number of those being injured in collisions has not risen.

“However, a disproportionate number of injuries and deaths involve large vehicles such as lorries and buses, often when cyclists are caught in those vehicles’ blind spots.

“London’s cycling revolution of the last decade is gathering more momentum. The first Cycle Superhighway pilot schemes opened this month, including CS7, running through Lambeth, and the Mayor’s Cycle Hire scheme is due to launch this week.

“That’s why this kind of training is so important – in Lambeth we believe that London’s limited road space can be shared more safely when road users are mutually aware of each other.”

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