Please read this folks - HGV Legislation

il_principe

http://www.eilidhcairns.com/campaign/

Via David Kitchen @ LFGSS

A message from Kate Cairns:

Two years ago on Thursday 5th February 2009 my sister Eilidh, was run down by a tipper lorry in Notting Hill Gate whilst cycling to work. She died 2 hours later. She was 30. She was a strong experienced cyclist, commuting a 20mile round trip daily.

The coroner concluded that it was more likely than not Eilidh was ahead of the lorry, that she was available to be seen by the driver, and that the front offside bumper of the lorry made contact with the rear wheel of the cycle, causing it to fall and Eilidh to be caught up in the wheels.

Last year the driver pleaded guilty to driving with uncorrected defective vision and was given 3 points and a £200 fine. He said he did not see her. He is still driving his truck.

Heavy Goods Vehicles count for 45% of all London cyclist deaths but make up only 5% of road traffic. Across Europe 4000 people, mostly unprotected road
users such as cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians are killed each because of HGV blind spots.

Our local Member of European Parliament is proposing a change to EU legislation to have HGVs fitted with sensors and cameras to remove their blind spots with Written Declaration 81.

We have a ready-made letter, which is translated, along with the actual WD, into all 23 languages across the EU. (Contact me if you cant find the link to your language)

1. PLEASE email the letter to ALL of your MEPs ASAP. It will take less than 2 minutes. We have a link to the letter, and to your MEPs.*

In order to be effective this declaration needs to be signed by half of the 736 MEPs. There are only 72 MEPs in the UK.
2. PLEASE forward this email to as many contacts as possible far and wide across Europe.
*Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania,
Slovenia, Finland, Sweden.

The WD lapses in less than 2 weeks on Wed 16th Feb. Please act swiftly.

If you want to do more:

3. PLEASE come to Strasbourg for 15th and/or 16th Feb to lobby MEPs as they go into the session.

We are taking Eurostar on Monday 14th Feb, returning Wednesday 16th Feb.

4. PLEASE come to Hyde Park Corner 11.30-12.30 on Monday 14th Feb, for a media event, before we leave for Strasbourg

All the links are here http://www.eilidhcairns.com/campaign

We really appreciate 3 minutes of your time to do 1 and 2. It can help save lives. Lives that are cherished and sorely lost.

Apologies for any cross-posting.

Kate Cairns

essexian

Done.

Thanks for the link.

jzed

Done - although had to slightly tweak the letter as got a message saying it was too similar to others and could not be submitted

iPete

Thanks, might try and come to the Hyde Park corner press event.

CyclingBantam

letter tweaked and sent.

EKE_38BPM

Tweaked and sent

Cafewanda

Wot EKE sed

jeepie

Done

essexian

Just had a reply:

"Thank you for your email regarding HGV blind spots.

Michael is very supportive of this written declaration and will be signingit.

Best wishes

Joanna WatsonRegional Officer to Michael Cashman MEP

Terry Duffy HouseThomas StreetWest BromwichB70 6NT Tel.0121 569 1923Fax. 0121 553 1898

www.michael-cashman.eu"

Thumbs up to Mr Cashman.

Agent57

Got a response already from one of my 8 MEPs:

From: "Brian Simpson MEP" <briansimpson.labour@virgin.net>

Dear Daren,

Thanks for your email. I have already signed the Declaration.

Best wishes,
Brian

I don't expect to get a response from Nick Griffin 'cause my surname sounds foreign.

hfidgen

done!

Seems a good idea though the haulage companies will hate it... cameras on some crapped out old skip lorry? Going to cost a fortune.

Crawler2

Done.

jzed

Response already - maybe we should push MP's and MEP's more often

Dear JZed

Thank you for your email.

I have signed the Written Declaration.

You might also be interested in the parliamentary question that was
submitted to the European Commission which I have copied and pasted
below:

10 March 2010
P-1462/10
WRITTEN QUESTION by Fiona Hall (ALDE) to the Commission
Subject: HGV blind spots
In 2005, Directive 2005/27/EC(1) was adopted, amending Directive
2003/97/EC(2) on rear view mirrors and supplementary indirect vision
systems for new commercial vehicles. Vehicles of category N2 not
exceeding 7.5 tonnes or those with a cabin similar to that of N3
vehicles now have to have Class IV wide-angle mirrors fitted.
Although this has gone some way to reducing the blind spots of these
vehicles, there remains an area of no visibility or impaired visibility
on the nearside and rear of the vehicle. There continues to be a high
number of fatal accidents between HGVs and cyclists in situations that
these new mirrors were meant to address. When considering Directive
2005/27/EC the European Commission only did a cost-benefit analysis of
blind spot mirrors and did not investigate the effectiveness of other
systems which reduce the blind angle. Among the alternatives are the
Lexguard system which makes a sound and triggers a flashing light in the
cab of the truck if someone is to the front or nearside of the vehicle,
or the use of a standard wide angle lens which widens the driver's field
of vision.
Given that Directive 2005/27/EC has not completely addressed the problem
of blind spots in HGVs, will the Commission come forward with a revision
of the legislation and also consider that there may be a fundamental
design flaw in HGV cabs?

9 April 2010
P-1462/2010
Answer given by Vice President Tajani on behalf of the Commission
Requirements for the installation of mirrors and other devices for
indirect vision on new cars, trucks and buses sold on the EU market are
currently contained in Directive 2003/97/EC(1) (as amended by
2005/27/EC(2)). Alternatively, vehicles, mirrors or other vision devices
may be approved to United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
Regulation 46, which is technically equivalent to the above Directive.
In future, as part of the simplification process introduced by the
regulation on the General Safety of Motor Vehicles (EC) 661/2009(3),
UNECE Regulation 46 will be the only standard that applies.
Within the working group that is responsible for the development of
UNECE Regulation 46, the possibility of improving this regulation with
the aim of reducing or eliminating the 'blind spot' that exists on many
heavy vehicles, is currently under discussion. It is not the purpose of
this group to mandate the use of particular products or technologies.
However, it is envisaged that, based on the results of available
research on driver visibility, it should be possible to extend the area
around the vehicle which must be visible to the driver, either through
the use of additional mirrors or by means of other devices such as
camera/monitor systems. Once agreement has been reached on a revised
version of Regulation 46, it will be incorporated into EU type approval
legislation, subject to the agreement of suitable lead times to allow
manufacturers the opportunity to adapt their designs.
With regard to the design of the driver's cab itself, it is possible
that improvements could be made to the visibility available from the
driver's seating position by, for example, increasing the glass area.
However, any such increase in visibility needs to be balanced against
the risk of reducing the protection offered by the cab structure in the
event of an accident.

I hope this is helpful.

Regards,

Syed

SYED KAMALL
Conservative MEP for London

cjcp

Done, and amended to include the incident between a HGV and a motorcyclist I saw yesterday morning on Embankment.

CyclingBantam

I have had 4 responses back saying 2 have signed and the other two will sign. Can only be a good thing.

TuckerUK

Wasn't there an HGV crackdown where lorries were stopped in London and checked for legality recently. And weren't significant proportion found to be defective in some way?

I'm sure I didn't imagine that, so I wonder if you can't even get the vehicles to be road legal, what hope of enforcing camera fitment and/or usage?

A quick Google 'Considering that the Met Police's lorry unit finds illegal faults (no license, overloaded, no permit, bald tyres, driver over hours etc) with 70%...

Noble cause and all that, but in reality?

tailwindhome

done

invincible

Il Principe wrote:

[Our local Member of European Parliament is proposing a change to EU legislation to have HGVs fitted with sensors and cameras to remove their blind spots with Written Declaration 81.

i dont think theses are the answer

we have a customer who has these fitted from the factory to their vehicles & in the first week we got a driver complain about a buzzer going off in his cab, he then had to told what they were & it was a little scary how close he was driving to things

they have also had to front end smashes in the last two weeks with all these sensors that were their drivers fault in which they have hit cars, so what chance a cyclist?

also we have customers with reversing cameras that come in with rear end damage

put as many mirrors, sensors, cameras on as you like but people have got to look at them to make a difference

Il Principe wrote:

Last year the driver pleaded guilty to driving with uncorrected defective vision and was given 3 points and a £200 fine. He said he did not see her. He is still driving his truck.

this i think is the problem that should be addressed, this guy should never be allowed to drive again, he was in no fit state to do so because of his vision

ariba

done - a bit of re-wording also

tailwindhome

Dear TWH

Many thanks for your e-mail.

Bairbre is signing this WD today.

Best WishesEmma Calvert

Emma Calvert

Stagiaire to Bairbre de Brún MEP. Sinn Féin.

jonginge

All the London MEPs have signed bar the UKIP abstainer.

Perhaps the last four words above should be their own sentence. :twisted:

deptfordmarmoset

I've had 2 Conservative, 1 Labour and 1 Green MEPs replying so far - all have signed. (And I got the same email as JZed from Syed Kamall.) It will be interesting to see which of the other 4 MEPs on my list don't reply or reply to say they won't be signing.

tailwindhome

Hopefully I'll get a similar response from the other 2 NI MEPs

I have also passed this on via Facebook to Cycling Ulster who intend to raise it with the overall body Cycling Ireland. Maybe make the Irish MEPs do a bit.

jimmypippa

Bump


still time to sign it

ariba

+1 wot JonGinge said above - i got the same response

SmellTheGlove

Done - expecting response from London members but good that some have already signed. Just wondering who would not sign, and for what reason? Beggars belief.

dilemna

JZed wrote:

Response already - maybe we should push MP's and MEP's more often

Dear JZed

Thank you for your email.

I have signed the Written Declaration.

You might also be interested in the parliamentary question that was
submitted to the European Commission which I have copied and pasted
below:

10 March 2010
P-1462/10
WRITTEN QUESTION by Fiona Hall (ALDE) to the Commission
Subject: HGV blind spots
In 2005, Directive 2005/27/EC(1) was adopted, amending Directive
2003/97/EC(2) on rear view mirrors and supplementary indirect vision
systems for new commercial vehicles. Vehicles of category N2 not
exceeding 7.5 tonnes or those with a cabin similar to that of N3
vehicles now have to have Class IV wide-angle mirrors fitted.
Although this has gone some way to reducing the blind spots of these
vehicles, there remains an area of no visibility or impaired visibility
on the nearside and rear of the vehicle. There continues to be a high
number of fatal accidents between HGVs and cyclists in situations that
these new mirrors were meant to address. When considering Directive
2005/27/EC the European Commission only did a cost-benefit analysis of
blind spot mirrors and did not investigate the effectiveness of other
systems which reduce the blind angle. Among the alternatives are the
Lexguard system which makes a sound and triggers a flashing light in the
cab of the truck if someone is to the front or nearside of the vehicle,
or the use of a standard wide angle lens which widens the driver's field
of vision.
Given that Directive 2005/27/EC has not completely addressed the problem
of blind spots in HGVs, will the Commission come forward with a revision
of the legislation and also consider that there may be a fundamental
design flaw in HGV cabs?

9 April 2010
P-1462/2010
Answer given by Vice President Tajani on behalf of the Commission
Requirements for the installation of mirrors and other devices for
indirect vision on new cars, trucks and buses sold on the EU market are
currently contained in Directive 2003/97/EC(1) (as amended by
2005/27/EC(2)). Alternatively, vehicles, mirrors or other vision devices
may be approved to United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
Regulation 46, which is technically equivalent to the above Directive.
In future, as part of the simplification process introduced by the
regulation on the General Safety of Motor Vehicles (EC) 661/2009(3),
UNECE Regulation 46 will be the only standard that applies.
Within the working group that is responsible for the development of
UNECE Regulation 46, the possibility of improving this regulation with
the aim of reducing or eliminating the 'blind spot' that exists on many
heavy vehicles, is currently under discussion. It is not the purpose of
this group to mandate the use of particular products or technologies.
However, it is envisaged that, based on the results of available
research on driver visibility, it should be possible to extend the area
around the vehicle which must be visible to the driver, either through
the use of additional mirrors or by means of other devices such as
camera/monitor systems. Once agreement has been reached on a revised
version of Regulation 46, it will be incorporated into EU type approval
legislation, subject to the agreement of suitable lead times to allow
manufacturers the opportunity to adapt their designs.
With regard to the design of the driver's cab itself, it is possible
that improvements could be made to the visibility available from the
driver's seating position by, for example, increasing the glass area.
However, any such increase in visibility needs to be balanced against
the risk of reducing the protection offered by the cab structure in the
event of an accident.

I hope this is helpful.

Regards,

Syed

SYED KAMALL
Conservative MEP for London

How about exisitng HGVs? Surely for legislation to have ANY real effect it needs to apply to ALL HGVs or vehicles in excess of 3.5tonnes? So therefore needs to be RETROSPECTIVE in it's powers to catch all trucks and possibly buses and coaches?

Have tweeked and sent it though.

jimmypippa

I have Conservative, Labour, Lib Dem and UKIP MEPs,

All signed, except the UKIP one who sent this:

Thank you for your message about Heavy Goods Vehicles and their inability
properly to detect other traffic such as cyclists. This would seem to lead
to a high proportion of accidents and fatalities which reliable sources
place at 14% of fatal collisions. It is a problem that needs to be resolved
and the technology is available.

However, I do not sign Written Declarations because they call on the
Commission to take action. This is totally unsatisfactory for me ,and
indeed most UKIP MEPs, because the Commission has not been elected by
anyone. We prefer all legislation to arise from elected Members of
Parliament because being elected means that they are accountable to the
people. The whole thrust of UKIP's policy is to remove the UK from the EU
so that our laws are made where they should be made, at Westminster. Our
MPs are much closer to the people than MEPs because we cover such a wide
area and because we have limited access to the Commission.

In other words "I don't like the system, so refuse to work with it".

Seems pretty pointless to be an MEP with an attitude like that.

tailwindhome

TailWindHome wrote:

Hopefully I'll get a similar response from the other 2 NI MEPs

I have also passed this on via Facebook to Cycling Ulster who intend to raise it with the overall body Cycling Ireland. Maybe make the Irish MEPs do a bit.

Neither of the other 2 Northern Ireland MEP s replied but they did however sign the WD

So Norn Iron's 3 for 3

turnerjohn

Done....has added a bit of my own. I cycle in London and am still amazed at the actions of some idiots behind the wheel...let loan an HGV....sorry about your loss,,,lets pray this goes some way to reduce incidents on our roads !

jimmypippa

I think the time to sign this declaration has now passed, but I was a bit miffed at the argument "I don't want the system to work like this so I'll cut off my nose to spite my face"