Left Turning Vehicles and Highway Code

Acutally, checking your mirrors before turning left isn't good enough. Passenger cars do have blind spots as well. The only way of making sure there isn't any cyclist on your inside is a shoulder check.

I'm German and passed my driving test in Germany 20 years ago. The shoulder check before the left (on the continent: right) turn is one thing the driving instructors are really mental about until it really becomes ingrained. You instantly fail your driving test if you forget to do it.

I rarely drive in London, but yes, I think I do the shoulder check before I turn.

A related problem is that turning cars in the UK do not stop for pedestrians who are crossing the street. That's absolutely common in Germany (and, I think, other parts of contintental Europe). Since drivers do not have to stop here, they can turn at significantly higher speed (which also induces many to cut corners, which annoys me as a cyclist time and again.)

At the core of the whole issue is the lack of strict liability for motorists in the UK, I think. The knowlegde that you as the operator of a potentially deadly machine are liable for any damages you cause EVEN WITHOUT DOING SOMETHING WRONG INTENTIONALLY is a big incentive to drive more carefully, I think. Realistically, however, campaigning for strict liability in the UK is probably a lost cause.

vehicles turning into side roads are instructed to give way to pedestrians crossing the road in rule 170:

Rule 170

Take extra care at junctions. You should

• watch out for cyclists, motorcyclists, powered wheelchairs/mobility scooters and pedestrians as they are not always easy to see. Be aware that they may not have seen or heard you if you are approaching from behind
  
  • watch out for pedestrians crossing a road into which you are turning. If they have started to cross they have priority, so give way
    
    

better awareness and more enforcement of this rule would be useful..