Brigade joins forces with CLOCS and Roadpeace to support introduction of national safety standard
The pioneer of road safety technology, Brigade Electronics, has teamed up with partners CLOCS and Roadpeace to support to a vital scheme to reduce deaths caused by construction vehicles.
Construction vehicles are disproportionately involved in serious and fatal collisions with vulnerable road users – an estimated 28,325 people have been killed or injured by construction vehicles in the last five years.
But the Construction Logistics and Community Safety (CLOCS) scheme aims to reduce these accidents by encouraging stakeholders in the construction industry to adhere to a national safety standard.
CLOCS was developed by regulators and businesses together to ensure the safest construction vehicle journeys. It defines actions by planners, construction clients, and principal contractors that are simple to implement.
Roadpeace supports and fights for justice for people bereaved by or seriously injured in road crashes.
Nick Simmons, CEO, RoadPeace commented: “It’s fantastic to see our corporate partners Brigade support CLOCS. Commitment from the industry is needed if we are going to effectively tackle the unacceptable number of people killed and seriously injured by construction vehicles. The devastation that these crashes cause is profound and widespread. And as the government invests in active travel, they pose a particular risk to people walking and cycling.”
Road safety expert Emily Hardy, of Kent-based Brigade Electronics, said: “Brigade is calling on local authorities across the UK to embed CLOCS in their vehicle safety policies to reduce death and injury on the roads.
“CLOCS has become even more vital as the number of pedestrians and cyclists on Britain’s roads is set to spike because of the Government’s £2bn ‘Better Health’ campaign to tackle the UK’s growing obesity epidemic.
“A significant increase in people walking and cycling without measures to reduce the dangers posed to them could lead to more deadly accidents.
“Combine this with a forecasted building boom in the UK, and the need for widespread adherence to CLOCS becomes a matter of life and death.”
Derek Rees, CLOCS Programme Director commented: “‘Together we are stronger’ – CLOCS Champions like Brigade (and RoadPeace) make a critical contribution to communicating the reasons why the construction industry needs to implement higher safety standards. Together we need to motivate more regulators, construction clients, principal contractors, their supply chains and fleet operators to become CLOCS Champions because when the CLOCS Standard becomes ‘business as usual’ we will all be achieving the safest construction vehicle journeys.”
Emily added that London now has the DVS legislation, enforced by Transport for London, which requires all goods vehicles over 12 tonnes to have a permit to drive into Greater London.
DVS is based on a ‘star rating’ indicating how much a driver can see from the cab in relation to other road users – known as ‘direct vision’. It is intended to protect vulnerable road users, such as people walking and cycling, near the vehicle.
DVS has been set up to protect people in London, but Brigade, helped by Roadpeace and CLOCS, aims to prevent injuries throughout the UK.
More about the aims, methods, and guidelines of CLOCS can be found here.
