Dublin council pushes for London-style line-of-sight truck standards following death of Brazilian cyclist
Dublin councillors have pushed for higher line-of-sight standards for heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) in the capital city to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists.
Speaking to the Dublin City Council (DCC) chamber on Monday night, Green Party councillor Ray Cunningham said the most dangerous vehicles for vulnerable road users are HGVs.
“Often drivers of these vehicles can’t see the pedestrians and cyclists around them. Other cities around the world have required safety standards for HGVs on their city streets, and so should we,” he said.
Citing London, where a five-star system is used to measure how visible vulnerable road users are to HGV drivers, he said a similar measure should be rolled out in Dublin.
HGVs with a higher rating have larger windows and mirrors, and can spot people at a much closer distance than one-star vehicles.
Visibility from a five-star truck (top) versus a one-star truck. Picture: Transport for London
An emergency motion by Mr Cunningham proposing a phased system to increase line-of-sight requirements every year until 2031 was rubber stamped by councillors.
The move follows a collision earlier this month between a cement truck and Brazilian student Johnny Santos at the junction of Middle Abbey Street and O’Connell Street.
Mr Santos, who was on a bicycle at the time, died following the incident.
The issue will now be debated by the Mobility and Public Realm Strategic Policy Committee (SPC) next month.
"What I am proposing is that from 2027, we require every [HGV] applying for a permit to have at least a one-star rating, 2028 at least a two-star rating, and so on,” said Mr Cunningham.
"In Dublin city, we already require permits for HGVs to drive in the core city and in other parts of the city, so we can roll this star rating into that permitting system immediately,” he added.
DCC head of traffic, Brendan O’Brien, welcomed the “broad thrust” of the motion, but said the permit system it would rely on has several limitations.
"The permit issuing that the city council does is for five-axle vehicles during the hours of the cordon, which are seven [am] to seven [pm],” he said.
"They’re only five-axle vehicles, so while we can look to put additional requirements on the five-axle vehicles, anything that’s four-axle, three-axle, two-axle or anything that’s coming through the city at night time is not taken into account through the permit system.”
He said the proposal as outlined would “only affect a small proportion” of the trucks using the city
Ms Horner, who chairs the mobility SPC, said DCC’s permit system for HGVs should be broadened beyond five-axle vehicles.
“Every single [accident], you wonder, would this have been prevented if we took this a bit more seriously, if we moved a bit quicker, and if we recognise risks a bit more clearly," she said.
“We’re so desensitised to road safety and road violence issues that I think we even notice them fully or get fully upset every time they happen, but we should. They’re horrific.”
She said that the Dublin Port Tunnel had hugely reduced the number of HGVs in the city centre, and the level of road deaths and injuries had also fallen.
"So, there is a very clear relationship between heavy goods vehicles in the city and safety … but they do continue to pose a danger.”