With the London Lorry Charge now the Safer Lorry Scheme, as predicted by The Hub, operators have yet another cyclist-safety initiative to contend with.
While the argument that enforcement of what we already have could solve many ills seems pertinent, it seemed worthwhile to pick over the bones of some of Safer Lorry Scheme, which is expected to be put out for consultation in the coming weeks and could even be live by September of this year.
The aim of the scheme is to end the exemption that some argue is antiquated in itself, which means construction vehicles do not have to be fitted with sideguards.It will do this not by a change in the law but rather making it too expensive to operate without sideguards.
There is also a push for a higher standard of mirror to improve visibility around the cab, which older trucks may not enjoy as standard.
In a nutshell
TfL is of the view that HGVs are overrepresented in cyclist and pedestrian deaths and claims that between 2008 and 2012 more than half (53%) of cyclist facilities in London involved lorries, although they make up just 4% of overall traffic.
Of course buses will also appear in any analysis of fatalities and in terms of accidents cars are the biggest cause of cyclist accidents, but we’ve already covered the need for proportionality in an earlier post on The Hub.
As the CV Unit figures mentioned earlier in this post and TfL’s own summary makes clear, there’s a problem that needs to be addressed. Something that the haulage industry at large has of course always acknowledged and in the form of the likes of Cemex and Keltbray through to Asda have been working hard to address.
Contained in the scheme document is a report from the Industrial HGV Task Force that once again underlines that there are some shoddy operators out there.
Set up in September 2013, the task force is made up of Metropolitan Police Service and City of London officers as well as DVSA, and targets the most dangerous and non-compliant vehicles in the capital.
It’s had success too, with 509 vehicle stops from its operational start date of 1 October 2013 to 8 November of that year finding, perhaps unsurprisingly given its remit, that only 110 vehicles were satisfactory – a compliance rate of 22%.
For balance, sister-magazine Commercial Motor recently revealed that general compliance wasn’t nearly as awful as some of the mainstream media would have you believe during the recent road safety clampdown.
And so to the scheme.
Who’s affected and what will it cost?
The scheme will affect anything over 3.5 tonnes and in 2011, 70,000 HGVs were recorded travelling into London. From this, using two best-guess data sets, TfL suggests there are up to 15,000 or 10% vehicles exempt from side guards in the South East, up to 7,000 or 5% exempt from class-V (wide angle – before 2000) mirrors and up to 37,000 or 30% of vehicles that due to their age wouldn’t have been fitted with class-VI (close proximity – before 2007) mirrors as standard.
Anticipated costs for retrofitting sideguards are £1,000 per vehicle and £300 for mirrors (although many of the larger construction fleets will already have gone above and beyond this).
TfL’s own London Low Emission Zone data suggests it is occasional visitors to the capital that will be hit hardest. Because vehicles entering London regularly are typically newer they have a higher spec with fewer affected by the scheme. Indeed TfL estimated that those exempt from side guard would be up to 3,650 without sideguards, just 375 exempt from Class V mirrors
and 1,850 exempt from class Vi mirrors.
On the basis that around half of those exempt have already fitted the required safety equipment, TfL puts the total cost to road transport at a not inconsiderable £14m.
Non-UK registered vehicles
There are 115,000 non- UK registered vehicles (of all types) that have signed up for the London Low Emission Zone. However, TfL maintains that the vast majority of vehicles affected by the scheme will be UK based.
Safety benefit
According to TfL the most common type of collision [from an analysis from 2008 to 2012] between cyclist and truck occurs when trucks are overtaking in a straight line – not turning as is often the perceived wisdom. In this situation, it is put forward that between 50% to 75% of fatalities would be prevented if safeguards were in place to prevent cyclists being dragged under the truck’s wheels.
There would also be a corresponding reduction in pedestrian deaths and injuries [actually higher than that of cyclist deaths in the period at 52/107 deaths/serious injuries compared to 35/111 deaths/serious injuries for cyclists).
The penalty
The penalty for entering London without the mandated safety equipment will, in TfL’s own words, need to be high with the current range put at a fine of £500 to £1,000.
Cost
If TfL dovetails the new scheme with its existing Congestion Charge then set-up costs are likely to be £9m but nothing will be in place before 2015 (as the Congestion Charge is approaching contract renewal). If it introduces the scheme ahead of this then it will likely cost £18m.