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A vicious cycle

16th June 2011, Page 22
16th June 2011
Page 22
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Page 22, 16th June 2011 — A vicious cycle
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Words: Adam Hill

A new campaign to protect cyclists from lorries is building steam. What can the road transport industry do to help?

Just over two years ago, cyclist Eilidh Cairns was killed by a truck while on her commute in London. Since then her family has been lobbying, through a campaign called ‘See Me, Save Me’, for HGVs to be itted with sensors and cameras to eliminate drivers’ blind spots.

MEP Fiona Hall took up their case, tabling Written Declaration 81, which says HGVs make up 3% of the vehicle leet but are involved in 14% of fatal collisions, and that this could be reduced by adding straightforward and affordable cameras, lane departure warning systems for motorways and emergency braking systems. Blind spot mirrors are already mandatory (see panel).

The campaign has the support of more than half of all MEPs in the European Parliament, meaning there is a prospect of real change, with the European Commission now obliged to produce proposals to deal with the issue. One possibility is revising existing Directive 2007/38/EC on the registration of new HGVs to make the itting of cameras and sensors mandatory.

Things are moving in the UK as well: the Cairns family’s MP, Sir Alan Beith, is pushing for parliament to make it mandatory for hauliers to it safety devices. His private member’s Bill received its irst reading in May and is due to get a second in September.

Sir Alan believes voluntary compliance is not an option. “I think regulation is needed, irst because the problem remains so serious, and secondly to ensure that hauliers who want to invest in good technology do not feel that they will be undercut by those who are unwilling to do so,” he said in Parliament.

Safety group Brake is in full support. “While some HGV operators it devices to make their vehicles as safe as possible, too many trucks pose an unacceptably high risk to people on foot and bicycle,” says Julie Townsend, Brake’s campaigns director. “We’re appealing to all operators to it the latest technology to reduce blind spots, and we’re calling for the law to be tightened up.” The road transport industry appears to share campaigners’ concerns. One company already grasping the nettle is Cemex, which runs 400 vehicles transporting cement, aggregates and ready-mixed concrete. Between 1999 and 2004 its vehicles were involved in four fatalities and six serious injuries of cyclists and it decided that something needed to be done. Cemex embarked on a retroitting programme, putting extra safety features on all of its trucks. These included rear signage on trucks’ nearside corners, additional nearside mirrors to aid visibility and proximity sensors with an indicator in the cab to warn the driver and an activated message for anyone passing too close to the nearside of the vehicle.

The irm works with the Metropolitan Police, Transport for London and on outreach programmes in schools, and is part of the ‘Exchanging Places’ scheme in which cyclists are able to get into the cabs of trucks and ind out exactly what drivers can and cannot see around them. “We’ve done what we think is in our power to do,” says Paul Clarke, regional logistics leet engineer for Cemex. “We also train drivers.” This includes contractors running in Cemex livery.

Companies who are wavering might consider Sir Alan’s thoughts on the inancial impact of a driver being involved in a road death. “The costs to a haulage business of involvement in a fatal accident are substantial, including the loss of a driver’s services for a long period, the disrupting insurance, legal and other costs, and potentially compensation costs,” he said. “The cost of better mirrors and technical additions

would be very small in comparison to the huge cost of a ▲ In 2009, a cyclist was new HGV. Fitting such technology to older vehicles could killed in more than a at least be achieved on a gradual basis, at a cost of around quarter of all serious £700 on present estimates.” accidents with trucks

Clarke speaks of the “trauma for the driver and the family and the repercussions for the business”. Since Cemex’s safety measures were taken, there has been just one fatality, which an investigation concluded was not the company’s fault. Others are taking the issue seriously too. The Freight Transport Association (FTA) is to launch its own cycling code this month encouraging the itting of sensors and other kit to protect cyclists and save lives. Gordon Telling, FTA head of urban logistics policy, says: “FTA is committed to working on this.” The code is member-led advice on the itting of safety devices and training. “We’d like someone to give us an independent appraisal of which equipment is most effective,” says Telling. Sir Alan’s Bill is vague when it comes to the equipment it believes hauliers should it, and this worries the FTA. “The danger is that you end up mandating something that isn’t the right solution,” Telling says. And there is more to safety than just installing some technology, says Roger Geffen, campaigns and policy director of national cycling association CTC: “It’s not just about the equipment. There is also awareness of the cyclist through training.” Geffen acknowledges that there is also a need for more – and better – training for cyclists.

Eilidh Cairns’ death is part of a grim statistic: in London, more than 50% of cyclist fatalities are due to collisions with lorries, according to CTC. Although goods vehicles make up just 5% of trafic in Great Britain, they are involved in about 19% of cyclist road deaths a year, the organisation adds. “London has a particularly acute problem,” says Geffen. “Other cities with higher levels of cycle use seem to have less incidence of lorries killing cyclists.” Brake wants to see changes to road layouts and is calling on the government to invest in more trafic-free and segregated cycle paths, especially on commuter routes, and to introduce widespread 20mph limits in communities. Yet while creating more speciic cycleways is an obvious idea, such a move needs to be married with changes to existing trafic regulations – for example, by giving cyclists priority over other trafic at junctions. “It is not as simple as segregating cyclists,” insists Geffen.

However, many politicians think the technology is in the right place to start with, and it might ultimately be that hauliers cannot afford not to it safety equipment if it will save even one life. As Clarke says: “£750 on a £50,000 to £60,000 truck is not that much.” ■

Further information

See me, Save me campaign: http://mcneillfamily.com www.brake.org.uk http://ec.europa.eu/transport/ road_safety


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