Navevo SatNav Alerts Lorry Drivers When Approaching Cycling Black Spots

Satnav Alerts Lorry Drivers When Approaching Cycling Black Spots

A new satnav will alert lorry drivers in London when they're approaching a cycling accident hotspot.

The GPS device will inform professional drivers when they are approaching one of 100 accident hotspots, within 50 metres.

Endorsed by Mayor Boris Johnson, the Navevo ProNav HGV Cyclist Alert will cost £250 off-the-shelf, or potentially less for bulk-buys.

It will emit both an audible warning and display a pop-up icon on the screen.

Some of those hotspots include areas around Euston Road, Hyde Park Corner and Parliament Square, where lorries have been known to collide with cyclists.

According to Transport for London 28 cyclists have been killed by collisions with lorries since 2009. In all 53 cyclists have been killed on the roads in the same time period.

Most recently climate change scientist Dr Katherine Giles died earlier this month, after she was hit by a tipper truck while cycling to work in Victoria.

According to the Evening Standard, the mayor has threatened to ban HGVs from driving in the capital at certain times unless safety standards improve.

The device is the latest attempt to improve safety for cyclists with high-tech gadgets.

They include a proposal for a bike alert as loud as a car horn which hit Kickstarter in February, and a laser-projected cycling warning light. Volvo also recently unveiled a prototype cyclist alert system that uses radar to detect hazards.

But campaigners maintain that greater safety standards need to be implemented on all roads to avoid future tragedies.

British Cycling's Martin Gibbs told the BBC that "this issue cannot be solved by technology alone".

He said:

"Over half of cyclist deaths in London involve HGVs so we'd like to see restrictions on the times when they can enter cities as well as mandatory fitting of sensors, side-bars and better HGV education on cyclist awareness."

The Times newspaper recently collated information from more than 10,000 people about dangerous areas, known cycle routes and other key informations for bikers onto a map of Britain.

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