News: Truck Drivers Go Cycling to Improve Road Safety

A number of truck drivers in the United Kingdom (UK) have taken to two wheels on the road in order to find out what it is like to just ride a bike in an effort to improve road safety. In a bid to get the laudable objective of the idea, concerned group that initiated it, has taken this very seriously to instill road safety awareness especially to truck drivers.

It has been fuelled by the fact that many road fatalities in Britain’s road network involved drivers of trucks or lorries. This concept, when producing good results to be manifested in the future statistics may also be adopted by other motorists on the road other than the truck drivers.
This Safe Urban Driving (SUD) scheme has been originally created by walking and cycling charity called Sustrans in an effort to cut or reduce collisions between trucks and riders of bikes in some road situations in the UK that will provide a heightened awareness for road safety amongst these truck drivers.

This is a one-day course that allows truck drivers to experience for themselves being a real road user from a bike rider’s perspective. It was seriously piloted by the Belfast City Council and today is being successfully expanded with the assistance from the Freight Transport Association (FTA) that’s representing drivers and owners of half of all trucks on Britain’s roads.

Seamus Leheny of the Freight Transport Association said that their members have taken very seriously this road safety awareness and they are working so hard in a bid to reduce the road fatalities involving lorries on the UK’s road network.

The group also stressed that it has been truly pleased in working with walking and cycling charity Sustrans in developing this road safety awareness training course and so they have been excited and delighted at the uptake to date. So, they have been optimistic to get the desired results which will be the saving of many lives on the road through prevention of collisions.

On the other hand, Northern Ireland Sustrans Cycle Skills Unit Coordinator Karen Mawhinney also said in response to FTA’s statement that their group has been pleased in working with the FTA on this road safety awareness training program and campaign to make sure that both cyclists and drivers could safely share road spaces.

Mawhinney emphasised the need for this road safety awareness campaign as the number of truck drivers and cyclists involved in fatal road accidents has been increasing these days in the UK. It has been manifested in statistics revealing a considerable rise in casualties, particularly involving lorries on the road.

As this developed, the FTA and Sustrans have also produced road safety tips leaflets for truck drivers and bike riders to improve further the safety of cyclists when they’re near from trucks on the road. This has been very useful in achieving the objective of this road safety awareness campaign because those people or motorists around but not within the scope of the activity would be made aware of the effort.

Plus the media exposure of the campaign, it’s expected to ignite more hearts and minds to get involved in any road safety campaigning so people would often be reminded of their safety as road users because in this activity, as shown in the television, social media, etc. fatal road accidents are always at the forefront of all the subjects, so that road safety awareness is heightened as road deaths impact the hearts and minds.