Guidance to help commercial fleets operating heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) in London understand safety equipment technical specifications has been published.
Firms operating trucks of more than 12-tonne gross weight must comply with new Direct Vision Standard (DVS) Progressive Safe System (PSS) criteria in the capital from October 28.
The Road Haulage Association (RHA) has secured more clarity on the technical specifications from Loughborough University who designed the new standard on behalf of Transport for London (TfL).
The RHA requested the information after many fleets were left confused as to what equipment they needed to fit to comply.
The explainer clarifies what DVS-compliant Blind Spot Information System (BSIS) and Moving Off Information System (MOIS) should and should not do.
It is hoped the document will help operators upgrading their trucks to better understand which systems comply with the new standard from Transport for London (TfL).
The Loughborough University team stresses that the report aims to clarify the meaning of the already-published TfL technical specifications in “plain language” and the reasoning behind them – the explainer does not set out any new requirements.
It is recommended that fleets test equipment on an operational vehicle before investing to be satisfied that all use cases for the trucks are included in driver testing.
The RHA thanked the team at Loughborough University for helping to clarify DVS requirements, but it said it was still concerned at the timeframes TfL has set for the industry to be fully compliant with PSS.
“We are fully committed to helping implement the new standard smoothly and improve safety on our roads, but there are more than 200,000 trucks in-scope needing upgrading amid concerns about availability, volume, affordability and reliability of equipment,” a spokesperson said.
“We’re therefore urging TfL to extend the implementation grace period for at least 12 months to help operators upgrade.”
The RHA expects officials to publish a market readiness report in July ahead of the new DVS rules being implemented.
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Gareth has more than 20 years’ experience as a journalist having started his career in local newspapers in the 1990s. Prior to joining Fleet News in 2008, he worked in the public sector as a media advisor and is currently news editor at Fleet News.
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