Public consultation: Heavy Goods Vehicles Safety Standard Permit

I've just received an email about a new consultation on safety standards for heavy goods vehicles in London:

Have your say on the introduction of safety permits for Heavy Goods Vehicles as part of the Direct Vision Standard to reduce road danger.

For full details and to share your views, please visit tfl.gov.uk/direct-vision-standard:

http://info.tfl.gov.uk/re?l=D0I9y344xI2un98pwI0

The Direct Vision Standard (DVS) forms part of the Mayor, Sadiq Khan, and TfL’s Vision Zero approach to reducing road danger. The DVS categorises Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) on the level of the driver’s
direct vision from the cab.

The proposed permit scheme is part of the DVS proposals and would require HGVs over 12 tonnes to hold a Safety Permit to operate in London from 2020.

We would like your views on the Safety Permit Scheme, which could include safety systems such as sensors, visual warnings and comprehensive driver training.

This consultation will run until 24 January 2018.

The first page of explanatory text says:

We have undertaken research that shows that in 2015, Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) were involved in disproportionately high numbers of fatal collisions with cyclists (78 per cent) and pedestrians (20 per cent) on London’s streets, despite only making up four per cent of the overall miles driven in the Capital.

So while I don't think the fact that the disproportionate involvement of HGVs is radically new (e.g. see the article I and others published a few years ago on Deaths of cyclists in London: trends from 1992 to 2006 which makes the same point), it is at least good to see that there is finally some kind of action by a governmental body.

Taking a brief look at the survey (pages 1 and 2) it seems it is majority questions/statements that require a response from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree" (and I haven't yet thought about what good responses may be) but there are also a number of questions that provide the opportunity for free text answers.

I hope that it will be possible for this community to provide a good level of input on behalf of cyclists in London.

Cheers,

d0cA