Call for further progress on aerodynamic HGVs

The Freight Transport Association has said it is frustrated with what it calls ‘slow progress’ from Europe on the removal of regulatory barriers surrounding heavy goods vehicle design, which it says would help improve safety, while also reducing fuel consumption and emissions.

 “FTA members are currently spending hundreds of thousands of pounds retrofitting existing HGVs to try to improve visibility from the cab,” the association said, “but the best way to truly eliminate blind spots in HGVs is to design them out… Freight operators want to buy such vehicles, so FTA would like to see the regulatory barriers to their development removed.”

FTA is currently participating alongside the UK government, other EU member state governments, industry and Transport for London in a European Commission expert working group, which is advising on draft proposals to amend the current rules.

Christopher Snelling, FTA head of urban logistics and regional policy, said: “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.

“If the Brussels based institutions do not prioritise this initiative, or tie it in with other measures so that its introduction is delayed, a huge opportunity to radically improve safety on our roads in the most efficient fashion will be missed.”