Vehicles of more than 12-tonne gross weight operating in London must comply with new Direct Vision Standard (DVS) Progressive Safe System (PSS) criteria in the capital from 28 October, 2024.

The Road Haulage Association (RHA) has obtained clarification on the technical specifications from Loughborough University who designed the new standard on behalf of Transport for London (TfL).  The organisation obtained the information after many hauliers had said it wasn’t clear what equipment they needed to fit to comply. The university has issued an explainer to help firms operating HGVs in London understand new safety equipment technical specifications making it clear what DVS-compliant Blind Spot Information System (BSIS) and Moving Off Information System (MOIS) should and shouldn’t do.

The Loughborough University Team stressed that they aim to clarify the meaning of the already-published TfL technical specifications in plain language and the reasoning behind them – and their explainer doesn’t set out any new requirements. They strongly recommend hauliers to test equipment on an operational vehicle before investing to be satisfied that all use cases for the trucks are included in driver testing.

Despite the clarification the RHA said that it is still concerned about the timeframes TfL has set the industry to be fully compliant with PSS. A press release from the organisation said: “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. We’re therefore urging TfL to extend the implementation grace period for at least 12 months to help operators upgrade. We expect officials in London will release a market readiness report in July which will help TfL better understand this picture.”

Photo:  Good Direct Vision.