New innovation to improve road safety is due to be fitted to one of Richmond Council’s new heavy goods vehicles as part of a European trial.

Each year pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists are injured or killed on the road network across the London, and some accidents occur when a large vehicle is turning left into a side road and a pedestrian, cyclist or motorcycle cannot be seen.

The Cycle Safety Shield has been developed by Safety Shield Systems and is a technology specifically designed to only detect pedestrians, cyclists and motorcycles when a collision is imminent.

It gives the driver up to 2.7 seconds to react to a potential collision warning. The system is due to be installed on to a Richmond Council HGV in August 2016 as part of a European trial of the safety system.

Results from the trial will be used by Richmond Council to decide whether to further roll out the system to the remainder of its HGV fleet.

Councillor Peter Buckwell, cabinet member for highways said: “We are totally committed to road safety, and the development of technology to assist safe driving is a valuable way forward.

“Through this trial we will be able to see if we can help to reduce the risks to pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.

“If the trial is successful and cost effective, we can look to roll out the system, or similar systems, further.”