Highway Code changes criticised

The quality, health, safety and environment manager at Derbyshire’s Middlebrook Transport has criticised government plans to include a ‘hierarchy of road users’ in a revised Highway Code, that could, in effect, make truck drivers responsible for the actions of vulnerable road users around their vehicles.

The RHA has warned that proposed changes could lead to a situation where drivers of larger vehicles will “bear the responsibility” in the event of a collision, as well as giving cyclists the right of way when undertaking or overtaking a turning vehicle at junctions.

It said the proposals could encourage “dangerous and irresponsible” behaviour.

Middlebrook’s Andrew Garside told Transport Operator: “With new DVS standards, there are eight points of vision for a HGV driver to monitor, not including the direction of travel.

“It takes time to a) locate each mirror, b) focus, and c) register images in that mirror, but let’s be generous and allow 0.5 of a second per glance/check.

“That means a total four seconds to complete a full vision check before looking in the direction of travel. A cyclist will travel 22ft per second at 15mph (electric scooters slightly faster), which means that in the time a HGV driver has checked the DVS window and then checked all the mirrors, the cyclist/scooter will have travelled 88ft.

“An average artic is 60ft long, so the cyclist/scooter would have been 28ft behind the lorry, and by the time all these checks have been completed will be at the front near-side corner, having travelled past the little window in less than one eighth of a second.”

The consultation into the changes closes on 27 October.