Plans to eliminate all deaths and life-changing injuries on roads in Greater Manchester could include a London-style Direct Vision Standard (DVS) for HGVs, a transport group conceded.

An online survey has been launched to enable stakeholders and residents to have their say on plans by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) to make the roads in the region safe by 2040.

Accompanying it is a 50-page draft strategy summarising its ‘Vision Zero’ proposals, which includes five safe system components: safe vehicles, safe speeds, safe roads, post-crash response and safe road users.

It said that in the last ten years nearly 10,000 people in Greater Manchester had been killed or seriously injured on the roads.

The strategy does not explicitly refer to the DVS, although the document said: “As levels of autonomation increase we can support vehicle owners with purchase decisions based on safety features and maintenance to ensure safety levels are high.”

However, when TfGM was asked whether Transport for London’s (TfL) DVS could also feature in the North West, a spokeswoman said it was the sort of initiative it wanted to explore: “The work that has been done by TfL to enhance the safety standard for trucks using London’s streets based on the Direct Vision Standard (DVS) is certainly the type of good practice that we would wish to learn from,” the TfGM spokeswoman said.

“However we need to be mindful of the additional legislation that would need to be in place, the funding required to deliver such schemes and the views of partner organisations before committing to measures such as DVS.”

Plans to tighten London’s DVS later this year have been criticised by industry business groups, which said the timescales were unrealistic.

Campaigners have raised concerns about the practical implementation of the new criteria, the failure to recognise the lifecycle of vehicles and the need to retrofit, the cost of upgrading fleets, and the scheme’s impact on service levels into London.

The TfGM survey, which can be found here: https://www.gmconsult.org/transport/vision-zero-strategy/ runs until 10 March, with a finalised Vision Zero Strategy and Action plan scheduled to go before the Greater Manchester Combined Authority later this year.

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