Blind spot
There are over 500,000 lorries, or Heavy Goods Vehicles, on UK roads, and they cause a disproportionate number of accidents with cyclists and pedestrians. A key problem is the visibility from lorry cabins, with drivers being high-up in the cab and struggling to see the area close to the cab using windows and mirrors.
At Loughborough University, researchers Dr Steve Summerskill, Professor Russ Marshall, Abby Paterson and Anthony Eland investigated this problem, using computer aided design techniques to visualise lorry driver visibility. By identifying blind spots in both windows and mirrors, they produced a series of Direct Vision Standards required for HGVs. First introduced in London and coming into force across Europe in 2026, it is predicted by the EU that Human Factors thinking will save more than 550 lives per year.
Making changes
2010
The Design Ergonomics Research Group at Loughborough University begins to explore HGV visibility, funded by the Department for Transport, Transport for London, and the Road Safety Trust.
2011
Results from research presented to United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) which highlighted key blind spots which led to accidents on motorways and in urban areas.
July 2015
All HGV vehicles in Europe had to be fitted with improved mirror designs based upon the teams recommendations.
2015 – 2018
The Research team collaborates with Transport for London to investigate direct vision from 19 HGV cab designs and identifies the need for a direct vision standard.
2019
The team designed the standard which sets minimum requirements for direct vision from vehicles and then were part of team to lobby the EU parliament to include direct vision minimum requirements for all HGVs sold in Europe.
2019
The Research team joined a UNECE working group to support the definition of a new Direct Vision Standard for HGVs largely based upon the London version designed by the team. This would affect the design of new vehicles.
2026
All new HGV designs will have to conform to the UNECE Direct Vision Standard, regulation 167 which sets stringent requirements which most existing vehicle designs cannot meet. This means improved designs will be evident from 2026.
Lorry driver line of sight