FRUSTRATED: FTA call for safety progress
Slow progress in changing vehicle design to improve the aerodynamics and safety elements of HGVs is ‘frustrating’, the Freight Transport Association (FTA) have admitted.
The Association are involved in the European Commission’s expert working group advising on the draft proposals to amend Directive 96/53.
UK haulier members, say the FTA, are currently spending hundreds of thousands of pounds retrofitting existing HGVs to try to improve visibility from the cab.
However, the Association claim the best way to truly eliminate blind spots in HGVs is to design them out.
Freight operators want to buy such vehicles, the Association insist, so regulatory barriers to their development should be removed.
Christopher Snelling, Head of Urban Logistics and Regional Policy at the FTA, said: “The best way to truly eliminate blind spots in HGVs is to design them out.
“FTA is fully supportive and engaged in the discussions taking place with the European Commission.
“Manufacturers want to produce vehicles they can sell into the entire European market, not just the UK, so it’s right that this issue is being examined in Brussels.”
Image courtesy of� Liquid Oh, with thanks.
