Road maintenance workers will be cycling through the streets of London as part of special lorry driving training.
Richmond’s roads maintenance contractor, FM Conway, has partnered with Cycle Confident to give 1,500 construction drivers training in safer driving skills.
The courses will offer practical training where drivers take to the saddle on London’s roads to experience cycling and also includes how to share the road safely with cyclists and other users.
David Showell, director at Cycle Confident, said: “Safe urban driving courses provide the opportunity for HGV drivers to experience firsthand the often vulnerable nature of being a cyclist on London’s streets.
“This experience helps develop their already highly professional driving skills, resulting in safely sharing roads with cyclists.”
The Transport for London-funded sessions will be held at FM Conway’s facilities across London and will be open to all construction firms.
FM Conway has also committed to fitting its entire fleet with cyclist protection measures including blind spot sensors, side guards and cameras at the front rear and sides, within the next three months.
Sharon Field, head of corporate social responsibility at FM Conway, said: “Driver training has a huge role to play in making construction traffic safer around cyclists.
“It goes hand-in-hand with equipping our vehicles with modern safety features and with careful road design.
“We’ve seen first-hand that these courses improve driver awareness and safety around all road users.”
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