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NYC Adding Truck Side Guards to Protect Pedestrians, Cyclists


kscarbel2

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Heavy Duty Trucking / February 9, 2015

New York City will begin adding side guards to 240 of its medium-duty trucks that will prevent a pedestrian or cyclist from being caught under a vehicle during a collision, Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced.

The initiative, which is part of the city's Vision Zero program, will initially bring side guards to 18 trucks; the city will retrofit the remaining 222 by the end of the year. The city operates a fleet of more than 27,000 vehicles.

"When we change the way we do business like this, it changes our streets for the better," said Stacey Cumberbatch, commissioner of the Department of Citywide Administrative Services. "DCAS is working in partnership with City agencies to improve safety for the public and our drivers including installing these life-saving side guards."

The city moved forward with the installation of the side guards after cyclist Hoyt Jacobs — a 36-year-old poet and Queens College adjunct professor — was struck and killed in Long Island City by a sanitation truck Jan. 17, said Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez.

"Last month, in response to the first cyclist death of 2015, I called upon our Mayor to install side guards on the City truck fleet in order to end these preventable accidents," Rodriguez said.

The guards cost about $3,000 each to purchase and install.

"Side guards have a proven record of preventing fatalities and injuries on the road and are a worthy investment of tax-payer dollars," said Council Member Julissa Ferreras, who chairs the finance committee.

The department began studying whether to install the guards in May, when it began a partnership with the Volpe Center at the U.S. Department of Transportation. The research included a review of international standards for side-guard use and exemptions, according to a city release. Volpe Center officials reviewed each city department's specific equipment, and issued a final report identifying 4,734 trucks eligible for the side guards. Trucks with a gross vehicle weight under 10,000 pounds were exempted.

As part of Vision Zero, DCAS has been tracking and analyzing collisions involving city vehicles. The city has expanded its defensive driving training and has installed telematics systems on city vehicles to better monitor driving behavior.

FYI: The United Nations Economic Commision for Europe (ECE) Council Directive 89/297/EEC of 13 April 1989 mandates side underrun protection on heavy goods vehicles to prevent pedestrians, bicycle riders and motorcyclists from falling under the wheels of the heavy good vehicle when it turns.

Front, side and rear underrun protection should be mandatory in the United States, The added costs is negligable, and the safety benefits irrefutable. It's an embarassment that the EU in this regard is 25 years ahead of the United States.

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for 3K per truck I think I would install nerf bars and save 2750.00 a truck!

I can tell you that side underrun protection does not cost the customer US$3000 on a Scania tractor or rigid. In fact, the total cost of front, side and rear underrun protection does not cost the customer even half that. The $3000 figure noted here represents a vendor milking the situation.

Example: Side underrun protection on an Iveco Eurocargo rigid: http://www.tecnove.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Image319.jpg

Example: Side underrun protection on a B-Double (aka. Interlink, B-Train): http://www.primemovermag.com.au/images/uploads/trailer/articles/TM0410-Tieman-1.jpg

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Exactly... Maybe it would be more cost effective to teach cyclists to steer clear of trash trucks and ban pedestrians from wearing ear buds and texting while walking... It is an old idea called PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

Gregg

That would work anywhere else the world, but we're talking NYC. It's the government's job to protect the people from the evils of society i.e. garbage trucks, soft drinks, etc.

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Jim

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on a much happy note on the radio NY made the local country station in north QLD Aus there was a new record set there in the last few days 11 days with out a murder WOW so Im guessing a lot more people are murdered than go under a truck I wonder were they would be better spending there money !!!!! Hang on how silly of me I got that wrong I should be typing YOUR MONEY none of the money the have is there's

this crap makes my head spin

Paul

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The new mayor appears to be a nanny who wants to be everyone's mommy... But pay attention PA residents it seems we recently elected a governor of the same ilk. So far he has halted new gas drilling and placed a moratorium on our death penalty

Gregg

Yep, we got Barry jr. He's a Wolf alright.

Jim

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