Tens of thousands of ‘dangerous’ lorries to be banned from roads by 2020

Tens of thousands of lorries without safe visibility will be banished from London’s roads by 2020 in a move that is likely to be warmly welcomed by safety campaigners.

A rating system has been devised to indicate how much of a danger construction and other heavy goods vehicles, or HGVs, are likely to pose to cyclists and pedestrians based on the level of vision the driver has from their vehicle’s cab.

Under Mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s plans, any “off road” HGVs judged to be the least safe will be completely banned from London’s roads within four years.

There are around 35,000 such “zero star-rated” vehicles of this type currently operating on the city’s roads. Many are tipper trucks and cement mixers.

These vehicles are disproportionately involved in collisions with pedestrians and cyclists.

A spokesperson for the Mayor’s office said data showed HGVs were involved in 22.5 per cent of pedestrian fatalities and 58 per cent of cyclist fatalities on London’s roads in 2014 and 2015.

Khan said: “I’m not prepared to stand by and let dangerous lorries continue to cause further heartbreak and tragedy on London’s roads.

“The evidence is clear – HGVs have been directly involved in over half of cycling fatalities over the last two years, and we must take bold action to make our roads safer for both cyclists and pedestrians.

“I’m determined to ensure the most dangerous zero star-rated lorries are removed from our roads completely by 2020.

“Our ground-breaking Direct Vision Standard will be the first of its kind in the world, directly addressing the issue of lethal driver blind-spots.”