As well as new UK road safety changes that are set to be introduced in October 2024 for UK fleet operators, the safety of vulnerable road users, including cyclists and pedestrians, is also becoming strictly regulated across Europe.
To operate in Greater London, heavy good vehicles (HGVs) over 12 tonnes will need a minimum three-star DVS rating. To remain operational in the city, HGVs falling beneath this threshold must install a Progressive Safe System – which alerts drivers of vulnerable road users nearby. These new DVS regulations follow part of the Mayor of London’s Vision Zero plan of eliminating all vulnerable road user fatalities by 2041 in Greater London.
Paul Lawrence. Image: AddSecure
Although London’s new DVS regulations have motivated action from other UK cities, the strategy was first introduced in Sweden in the 1990s, with Norway and Finland following example shortly after. Similar to the UK’s DVS regulations, the European Union has now recently implemented these guidelines, with the European Commission introducing the EU Road Safety and Policy Framework in 2019, which aims to reach zero European road deaths by 2050.
The framework’s objective is to tackle numerous road safety factors, including stricter speed limits and traffic reduction, through improving the vision and visibility of HGV drivers. Statistics show that HGVs are responsible for 15% of fatalities across Europe, with 4,000 people losing their lives in truck collisions in Europe annually. As the European Commission discovered that improving HGV direct vision performance would save up to 550 lives per year, to drastically reduce these fatalities, the framework will focus on improving reduced vision by taking into consideration the position of the vehicle and the design of the mirrors and windows.
The new European standards regulate how much of the road drivers must be able to directly see. These changes require an additional 80-90cm of vehicle length to improve vision, safety, aerodynamics and driver comfort, and because of this, all new HGV models sold in Europe will need to meet these standards by September 2025.
The EU Vehicle General Safety Regulation (GSR), a second regulation that was introduced in 2022, also impacts all HGVs travelling around Europe, including the UK. These new measures prompt HGVs to implement technologies to safeguard vulnerable road users and vehicle occupants and minimise human error, aiming to save over 25,000 lives and avoid a minimum of 140,000 serious injuries by 2038.
GSR has also introduced mandatory safety features for HGVs, including an emergency stop signal, reversing information, tyre pressure monitoring systems, moving off information systems, blind spot information systems and intelligent speed assistance. These features are all mandatory at the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) level, when the vehicle is sold to the buyer. For older vehicles, these safety features should be fitted post-manufacture to comply with safety regulations.
To comply with EU regulations, operators are recommended to adopt a Driver Monitoring System (DMS), which uses advanced cameras and sensors to monitor the driver’s behaviour, awareness and general state during an entire journey. By detecting signs of distraction, impairment or fatigue, drivers will be alerted in real-time – visually, auditorily or both – prompting them to take action to eliminate any potential hazards.
DMS technology consists of driver-facing cameras with advanced facial recognition to track the movement of drivers’ eyes and heads, detecting signs of drowsiness and sensing when drivers take their eyes off the road or hands off the wheel. By monitoring blinking patterns, eye closure duration, yawning and head movements, this analysis helps to determine when driver intervention is required or if an alert is needed to bring the driver’s attention back to the road.
Object detection also recognises objects in real-time, including other vehicles, pedestrians, traffic signs and road markings, monitoring when the distance of these objects fall below the set threshold – all to avoid potential road collisions.
From the 150,000 HGVs that enter London every year, to over three million HGVs travelling to Europe from Great Britain annually, most HGVs travelling across the EU will be affected by these guidelines to some extent. Operators should proactively research these measures to ensure safer driving practices, supporting aims to mitigate road user fatalities and reach Vision Zero across the UK and Europe, failing to do so could be a costly mistake.
Author: Paul Lawrence is the Managing Director of AddSecure UK, North America and Australia.
