MPA highlights road safety at the London Bike Show 2015

The UK’s Mineral Products Association (MPA) attended the London Bike Show on 12 – 15 February, where it helped to promote the new Construction Logistics and Cyclist Safety (CLOCS) Standard and raise awareness of key safety messages.

The MPA is a ‘CLOCS Champion’, and the Vulnerable Road User Safety Policy that the MPA launched in 2012 is now aligned with CLOCS. The CLOCS Standard is a national standard that outlines the requirements for companies and drivers delivering construction materials and for contractors/clients. It hopes to lower the number of road accidents that occur by bringing together vulnerable road users, truck operators and those in the construction sector.

At the London Bike Show, the Metropolitan Police ran an Exchanging Places initiative, which involved three Large Goods Vehicles (LGVs) at the CLOCS/Exchanging Places stand. Visitors had the opportunity to sit in the LGV cabs to see from the driver’s perspective and learn about how best to safely position themselves on the road to reduce the risk of lorry collisions. Videos promoting safety key points were also shown and the MPA, along with several of its members and CLOCS volunteers, handed out safety leaflets, free high-visibility clothing and further information about CLOCS.

“We welcomed the opportunity to support the CLOCS/Exchanging Places stand at the London Bike Show,” said Nigel Jackson, Chief Executive of the MPA. “The mineral products and construction industries work very hard to minimise incidents and injuries onsite and the same attitude should be applied to what happens on the road. This year, our continuing focus will be on implementation of the requirements of MPA’s Vulnerable Road User Safety Policy and the CLOCS Standard amongst the membership and continuing to roll out our Cycle Safe campaign across the regions. It is essential that all parties (drivers, haulage companies, contractors, cyclists, police and regulators) work together to make our roads safer for all road users.”

Michael Heduan MBE, Driver Training and Vehicle Safety Programme Manager at Crossrail, added: “Last year this event attracted over 45 000 cycling enthusiasts from London and across the UK. This year we reached out to them to demonstrate both the risks presented by the blind spots around the trucks which deliver vital goods in our major cities and the progress truck operators and manufacturers have made in developing safer vehicles. In 2015, CLOCS will take major strides to roll our programme out further on a national scale and work with truck operators, drivers and cyclists to help tackle the issue of cycle collisions by raising road safety awareness amongst all vulnerable road users.”

Adapted from press release by Louise Fordham

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/europe-cis/18022015/mpa-promotes-road-safety-at-2015-london-bike-show-360/