SM UK managing director Steve MacDonald, a specialist in safety systems for lorries, has made the call in the wake of Highway Code changes that put the burden of proof on those behind the wheel of a vehicle.
The changes mean drivers are now more vulnerable to prosecution if they turn left and inadvertently strike a cyclist who they could not see on their nearside, causing them a fatality or serious injury.
The industry-standard HALO System created by Mr. MacDonald’s company has already been fitted to thousands of trucks in response to the introduction of the Direct Vision Standard (DVS) permit scheme in London. The system uses cameras, lights, sensors, SideScan motion detectors, audible alerts, and a 4G recording facility to warn the driver that there is a vulnerable road user in their blind spot, reducing the risk of a fatal collision. In a recent study by Cambridge University, research across several fleet trucks indicated that Halo’s motion detector – which can identify a cyclist or pedestrian beside the vehicle – reduced the number of incidents by 84 percent.