LORRIES should be forced to fit life-saving side guards, city councillors will be urged to tell transport bosses.

Liberal Democrat member of Oxford City Council Andrew Gant will call on the Labour-run authority to back the call on Monday.

He has put forward a motion asking highways authority Oxfordshire County Council to make a law forcing lorries over 3.5 tonnes to have side guards. They are railings between the front and back wheels that prevent cyclists being dragged underneath.

It also wants the county to make a traffic regulation order for extra mirrors “giving the driver a better view of cyclists and pedestrians”.

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Transport for London is discussing similar measures, which have been endorsed by Mayor of London Boris Johnson, for all haulage vehicles.

Department of Transport figures show 25 serious or fatal road accidents involving cyclists in the county in 2005. This rose to 61 in 2013.

Mr Gant, a Summertown councillor, said: “We are lucky that serious accidents are mercifully low in Oxford.

“But a disproportionate number of cycling injuries involve large vehicles.”

Labour city council leader Bob Price said: “I don’t know whether it will be voted through, but it’s not contentious and is in line with current policies.

“Our own vehicles have been equipped in this way.

“We are constantly pressing on the county council the importance of improving conditions for safe cycling with some limited but welcome successes.”

David Nimmo-Smith, county councillor for environment, said: “We will certainly look into it but we have not been budgeted for this.

“This regulation order would require city-wide cameras for enforcement, something we don’t currently have.”

The proposal was welcomed by city cycle campaign group Cyclox.

Vice-chairwoman Dr Alison Hill said: “Anything that improves road conditions for cyclists is a good thing.

“But we feel there is much more that can be done to put cycling and walking at the heart of transport in Oxford.”

In April 2007, 22-year-old Oxford University student Tsz Fok died after being crushed under a lorry at the junction of Broad Street and Parks Road. In 2011, 34-year-old Joanna Braithwaite died in a crash with a cement mixer in Woodstock Road.

Monday’s city council meeting starts at 5pm at the Town Hall, St Aldate’s.

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