HL Deb 10 February 2005 vol 669 cc141-2WA
Lord Blackwell

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they are satisfied with the safety record of large, left-hand drive lorries on British motorways; and whether they have any plans to reduce the risk they pose. [HL1170]

Lord Davies of Oldham

We are not aware of evidence that left-hand drive vehicles have a worse safety record than right-hand drive vehicles. We are concerned about vision blind spots in all classes of vehicle and recognise that vision to the right-hand side of large left-hand drive vehicles may be restricted. To help address this we have agreed with European colleagues a new directive requiring newly registered large goods vehicles to be fitted with additional mirrors. These mirrors will provide better vision along the side of the vehicle and also a better downward view of the traffic adjacent to the side of the vehicle. This directive will start to take effect from January 2006.