[georgerobinson]

I spend most of the week in London, where cycling is an incredibly popular mode of transport given the slow buses, heaving tubes, and the more widespread push to exercise and be healthy.

A pedestrian myself, I've observed that the largest risk to cyclists appears to be either at the lights or in slow moving traffic.

This could be incorrect, but I think almost all mid-range cars come with parking sensors which alert drivers to objects around them. However, they typically only sense objects in front of or behind the vehicle.

Therefore, I think it would be great to extend parking sensors to provide 360 degree detection. As a driver, your car would be able tell you if there is a cyclist behind you, in your blind spot, stationary or moving - all without having to take your concentration of the road ahead - including pedestrians who choose to jump out right in front of you.

I don't know if this is present in executive cars, such as the Mercedes E/S class, however, it would be an amazing kit to have, and I think it should be a legal requirement on all busses and HGVs - the single largest cause of accidents between cyclists and vehicles.

[mcintyre1994]

I think the whole parking sensor systems moving to the mid-range has probably happened too recently to be widespread at this point, but I imagine that depends enormously on affluence. There's a big difference between people who buy a mid-range/family car, and the people who replace it every few years.

It's a neat idea though, and if it is already on higher end models it'll probably trickle down eventually. Eliminating blind spots seems obvious - I imagine check the blind spot before moving is one of the first behaviours people lose after passing their test. I very rarely see drivers do it.

> I think it should be a legal requirement on all busses and HGVs - the single largest cause of accidents between cyclists and vehicles.

Do you have a link for this? It seems hard to believe given how relatively low the numbers of those vehicles are. Rospa [0] say it's cars or taxis which I'd have expected, although they do point out 20% of fatalities in London involve an HGV - and say one quarter of serious injuries are a bus/HGV (as you'd expect, performing a left turn). So more than I'd have guessed, but I'm not sure about the single largest?

For what it's worth they also say 75% of accidents happen at or near a junction which matches pretty well to your observation of lights/slow moving traffic.

[0] http://www.rospa.com/road-safety/advice/pedal-cyclists/facts...

[georgerobinson]

> Do you have a link for this? It seems hard to believe given how relatively low the numbers of those vehicles are

In 2013, HGVs were the cause of approx. 65% of all deaths of a cyclist (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25080427).

* 2010: 10 deaths, four involving HGVs

* 2011: 16 deaths, 12 involving HGVs

* 2012: 14 deaths, five involving HGVs

* 2013 so far: 14 deaths, nine involving HGVs

In fact, it looks like every cyclist death this year (up to 9th April) has been from a collision with a HGV (http://www.london24.com/news/cycling/london_cycle_deaths_201...).

I've not read the 2014 report from ROSPA, so I will take a look! Thanks for posting the link!