London Mayor Sadiq Khan has today announced plans to ban the most dangerous construction lorries and HGV vehicles from London roads by 2020.
A new “direct vision standard” has been devised with TfL and rates vehicles according to how well the driver can see the truck’s surroundings. The rating runs from zero to five stars and only lorries and HGVs with a rating of at least three stars will be allowed in to the city by 2024.
Under the proposals, 35,000 zero star-rated HGVs currently operating in London would be banned by 2020.
Trucks with zero stars are those typically designed for off-road use and were involved in 70% of cyclist deaths caused by HGVs, the mayor’s office said. Lorries were involved in 58% of cyclist deaths and 23% of pedestrian deaths on the roads. Last year nine cyclists were killed on London’s roads and 378 were seriously injured.
Off-road vehicles, such as tipper trucks and cement mixers, found in the construction industry are often involved in pedestrian and cycling fatalities, which is why the Mayor is determined these models should not operate on London’s roads.
TfL and the wider Greater London Authority group will adopt the new direct vision standard in all future contracts from the new financial year, to ensure that no trucks with poor direct vision are used in their future supply chains.
The mayor and TFL will also work with developers and councils to encourage them to do the same, and Khan has pledged to continue pressing the EU to introduce new EU-wide safety standards for HGVs.
Khan, said: “I’m not prepared to stand by and let dangerous lorries continue to cause further heartbreak and tragedy on London’s roads. The evidence is clear – HGVs have been directly involved in over half of cycling fatalities over the last two years, and we must take bold action to make our roads safer for both cyclists and pedestrians.
“I’m determined to ensure the most dangerous zero star-rated lorries are removed from our roads completely by 2020. Our ground-breaking direct vision standard will be the first of its kind in the world, directly addressing the issue of lethal driver blind-spots. I’m also proud that TfL will lead by example and will not use any zero-star lorries in its supply chain from the new financial year.”
To ensure the industry will have sufficient lead-in time to upgrade their fleets before the ban comes into place, Khan is launching his proposed enforcement timetable now, and a consultation process will begin shortly.
Peter Jacobs Managing Director at Wilson James said: “Any improvement to safety for all road users is welcome. This is also an opportunity for the construction industry to work with the mayor and consider the proposals outlined in TfL’s Rethinking deliveries report and reduce the number of HGVs on London’s streets by consolidating deliveries.”
Jose, hopefully in the time you have been driving you have been doing so safely, unlike too many other London drivers.
In any case, a quick turn of the head deals with cyclists blind spots, something entirely different to the massive blind spots around most large vehicles.
Whilst this is an excellent move to make roads safer, and it will push lorry designers to think as much about the safety of cyclists and pedestrians as well as the driver, this could have a big negative impact on SME’s who cannot afford to replace their vehicles and will thus lose customers in London over night. There should be scope to apply technology and fit cameras with proximity sensors to mitigate the blind spots and thus maintain safe all-round visibility.
As far as blind spots are concerned surely this rule should apply to everything on the road INCLUDING ALL TWO WHEEL TRANSPORT!! If they really went allot deeper into the causes of most road accidents maybe they would agree with me, since I have driven all of the last 55 years of my life!