Over 50 rigid vehicles from the Canning Town and Iver South depots have been fitted with a range of measures aimed at minimising potential hazards to road users.
These include side guard bars to protect cyclists from becoming trapped in the space underneath the vehicle, and side scanners that alert drivers to any road users that may be present alongside them.
The ‘ultra-sonic’ scanners issue a bleeping noise inside the cab, helping collection crews ascertain if any cyclists are in the blind spot of one of the six mirrors installed in the vehicles.
External warning devices have also been installed on the vehicles to warn of a planned left hand turn. When the driver activates the left hand turn signal, a verbal warning announcement is repeatedly broadcast outside of the cab to alert cyclists of their intentions.
The investment has cost over £1,000 per vehicle across the Viridor fleet. It follows the past installation of safety features including side-view cameras, cycle safety vision windows and awareness stickers.
Viridor is also trialling 360 degree cameras on two of its vehicles to assess whether this leads to a significant reduction in potential incidents.
Cyclear
The measures are similar to those rolled out across Serco’s collection fleet at the end of last year, which fitted Cyclear technology to its vehicles serving the London borough of Havering (see letsrecycle.com story).
Commenting on the safety measures, Graham Warren, Southern Regional managing director for Viridor, said: “Viridor takes its responsibility towards health and safety very seriously, not just for our own employees, but also those we work with, our partners and the communities we support.
“Investing in this upgraded equipment for our fleet of rigid vehicles generally working within the M25 is an important step in helping to ensure our roads are a safer place for everyone. We will continue to work closely in partnership with Transport for London and other organisations to set ourselves the challenge to change where opportunities lie ahead.”
The drive to introduce cycling safety for heavy goods vehicles follows a report published by Transport for London in June 2014 which highlighted there had been 4,623 casualties involving a cyclist during that year alone – 17% of all casualties reported on roads in the city.
Ban
In January 2014, Mayor of London Boris Johnson proposed all HGVs weighing over 3.5 tonnes that were not fitted with sideguards are to be banned from the city’s roads (see letsrecycle.com story). The measure is scheduled to be implemented from September this year.
A spokesman at the Mayor’s Office said: “We welcome plans from the operators of HGV’s across all industries, including waste and recycling, to play an active role in improving road and cycle safety in the capital.
“From September, HGV’s will be subject to the requirements of the Safer Lorry Scheme. Clearly, it is in all companies’ interests to ensure that their fleets comply in advance of the scheme being rolled out.”
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