A host of cities and other organisations including ECF has signed a letter calling for the European Commission to regulate the elimination of direct vision blind spots in lorry cabs, as part of its upcoming proposal to improve safety type approval regulations. The letter can be found here and was addressed to President of the European Commission Jean Claude Juncker.

The Commission will launch a proposal later this month on May 16th, along with other proposals, as part of a ‘third mobility’ package, with a focus on road safety. Part of this package will include improvements to the safety regulations required of all new motor vehicles.

The cities, Aarhus, Bologna, Brussels, Copenhagen, London, and Vienna, and organisations, Eurocities, European Cyclists’ Federation, European Transport Safety Council, Polis, and Transport and Environment, call for the “elimination of the blind spot at the front of trucks and a significantly reduced blind spot on the passenger side” as part of the safety package.

The reduction of road fatalities has plateaued over the past few years, with latest figures from the Commission again showing only a 2% fall in road fatalities, it is now looking very unlikely that the EU will not reach it’s 2020 goal of halving the number of road fatalities compared to 2010 from 31,500 to 15,750; the current figure stands at 25,300.

ECF believe that making vehicles safer with new technologies such as Autonomous emergency braking and Intelligent Speed Assistance for all vehicles, as well as better direct vision for lorries/HGVs will provide the next boost that could help the EU achieve future ambitious fatality and serious injury reductions, as well as providing calmer, more comfortable spaces for cyclists and pedestrians.   

Mandating a direct vision standard for trucks within the Commission proposal would help to overcome the exaggerated risk for these vehicles. This is particularly the case for those vehicles in urban areas such as construction trucks that have and continue to kill and seriously injure cyclists and pedestrians in urban areas.

ECF position paper on the General Safety Regulations is here https://ecf.com/sites/ecf.com/files/ECF%20Position%20Paper%20on%20GSR%20and%20Ped%20Protection%20Regs_November%202016.pdf

ECF position paper on the upcoming Road Safety Programme is here https://ecf.com/sites/ecf.com/files/ECF_position_RSafety_Programme_2020-2030.pdf

ECF document on better cab design is here https://ecf.com/groups/ecf-report-hgv-cabs-direct-vision-and-amendments-directive-9653-full-report