Are New Safety Measures on HGV’s the Key to a Safer Future?

A recent study by the RAC has claimed that almost 3 million Britons have integrated so called, ‘dash-cams’ into their everyday driving commutes. This suggests that the public is becoming much more safety conscious, and we are also seeing these kinds of safety measures expanding and moving into a world in which safety to commercial drivers and the public is paramount. Not only are we seeing brand new HGV models coming with safety features as standard, but many older models are now being fitted with brand new safety equipment.

A large part of improving the safety of HGVs on routes will come down to regulations and recommendations for how to approach vehicular updates. As safety improves further, expect new HGVs to roll off the production line, fully compliant with changing safety regulations.

In 2015, the government rolled out the Safer Lorry Scheme, which was designed to target the high number of cyclists injured by accidents with HGV’s. The cost of refitting each HGV is said to be between £1,000 and £2,000 – which is a relatively small cost in relation to increased safety.

These changes so far include:

• Implementation of side guards and under run devices
• Additional mirrors for HGV’s over 3.5 tonnes
• Any further equipment that protects cyclists and pedestrians

Late in 2015, the Government disclosed statistics in relation to road casualties, these statistics also revealed the incidents, which involved HGV’s, and heavy goods vehicles.

These statistics revealed that incidents have dropped by a huge 43% in the last decade, and 3.5% in the previous 12 months alone.

Heavy goods and haulage vehicle safety has always been an area of intense focus for the haulage industry, and one, we here at Bis take very seriously given that our clients rely heavily on the use of large vehicles.

There is set to be a further raft of changes in 2016, so what are these changes and how will they improve safety even further?

These include:

• Single lens dash cameras
• Multi lens cameras
• Side step sensors
• Reversing sensors
• Blind spot detection systems

In September, the government will release the data for 2016, and by this time we will be hoping to see another larger decrease in accidents in relation to haulage and heavy goods vehicles.