The Brisbane 2032 Olympics will herald a construction boom across SE QLD. With that comes increased risks to Vulnerable Road Users. Will SE QLD Councils learn from London’s example?

Brisbane’s successful bid to host the 2032 Olympics is likely to result in a construction boom the likes of which the region has never seen – not just for Games facilities but also for transport infrastructure and accommodation. This means more construction and heavy vehicles on the roads in Brisbane and SE QLD.

Such was the case in London for the 2012 Olympics – and with it came an unacceptable number of vulnerable road user (VRU) fatalities with up to six cyclists a month being killed in London.

The rising number of VRU deaths between 2008 and 2012 revealed that 55% of cyclist fatalities were because of a collision with a heavy goods vehicle, with construction vehicles being disproportionately represented.

In 2012, Transport for London (TfL) commissioned an independent review of the construction sector’s transport activities to understand the causes of these collisions and how they might be prevented.

Now, at an exciting time in Queensland’s history, Brisbane is about to face these same challenges.

While the river city promotes itself as a new world city and looks to maximise the tourism and business opportunities that will ensue from a global focus on Brisbane, having an outstanding safety record is paramount. What can Brisbane learn from the London experience?

Read on to discover

• The findings of the UK study
• The recommendations and results
• What the Australian construction industry is doing
• How Local Government Authorities like Brisbane City Council can create a safer environment for the Brisbane Olympics construction phase
• How SGESCO-MAX plans to help

BRITISH FINDINGS

Research carried out by Transport for London, covering the period 2008 to 2013, found that:

• 53% of the deaths of cyclists on London roads involved Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGV), which constituted only 4% of traffic, highlighting the severity of any incident with a HGV.
• the number of blind spots in construction vehicle cabs was troubling: The blind spots for a cement mixer were 50% worse than that of a semi-trailer. See here for diagrams on the number of blind spots in various vehicles used on Australian construction sites.

A subsequent 2016 Study found:

• The height of the cab and driver’s position is the key factor which affects direct vision and blind spots.
• Construction vehicle cabs are on average 32% higher than those in transport vehicles (See vision from a high cab below).
• The blind spot distance in front of a construction vehicle is on average nearly three times greater than for transport vehicles. The distance in which a cyclist on the passenger side of the vehicle can be hidden is on average more than twice that of distribution vehicles.
• A left turning vehicle (right hand drive) tended to be the most common and serious accident.

• For construction companies road safety was not seen as important as site safety
  – There was very limited ownership of road risk by construction companies and their contractors. This was in stark contrast to the ownership of health and safety risk on site. Once a driver left a site, principal contractors commonly reported that the driver’s safety was no longer their responsibility.
  – Only on-site collisions were reported as part of an organisation’s safety statistics – not collisions and near misses on the road
• There was little understanding of the impact of construction activity on road safety.
• There was no common standard for construction industry to work to in order to manage work-related road safety.

BRITISH RECOMMENDATIONS AND RESULTS

In 2013, the Mayor of London (now the UK Prime Minister), Boris Johnson, set out his vision in ‘Safe Streets for London: The Road Safety Action Plan for London 2020’. It included a target to reduce by 2020 the number of people killed or seriously injured in collisions by a further 40% on earlier targets. That goal was achieved by 2015 and then doubled again for 2020.

At the same time, the UK construction logistics industry identified actions to improve road safety, which led to the establishment of a single standard, known as the “CLOCS (Construction Logistics and Community Safety) Standard”, now recognised as a world leading approach due to its rapid success – a 47% reduction in fatal and serious crashes between heavy vehicles and VRUs within two years.

A key element of the CLOCS Standard is a Work Related Road Risk (WRRR) Standard, which sets the standard for Construction companies (and drivers) to follow with their vehicles on roads. Transport For London introduced WRRR requirements into its procurement contracts in 2012.

The plans and actions promoted several key safety initiatives and included regulations for vehicles under and over 3.5 tonnes to make vehicles safer.

On construction logistic vehicles over 3.5 tonnes new safety equipment was required:

• Warning signs to alert other road users not to get too close to the vehicle
• Side-guards to prevent VRUs from going under vehicles (deflecting them away).
• Mirrors, sensors, cameras and in cabin audible alerts to eliminate or minimise blind spots
• Exterior audible warning alerts for VRUs when vehicle is turning.

The positive results have led to the establishment of the Direct Vision Standard which will use a ‘star rating’ from 0 to 5 stars to rate construction and other HGVs based on the level of direct vision the driver has from the cab. Only HGVs with 3 stars or above will be allowed on London’s roads by 2024.

Four other initiatives have been adopted or are currently being tested:

1. Training  — Since 2015 Vulnerable Road User safety training is a part of Drivers Certificate of Professional Competence for HGV Drivers.

2. Cab re-design — The London Cycling Campaign has developed a safer lorry design, which it has called for the construction industry to adopt. The design includes a lower seating position, larger windows and early warning cameras and sensors, to give drivers a clearer and easier view of what’s happening immediately around their vehicle. (See next image.) Research has found that when VRUs and vehicle drivers can make eye contact, VRUs feel safer as they know they have been seen.

3. Collision avoidance technology — New collision avoidance technology is being developed and introduced. This uses sensors to detect the presence of a cyclist on the HGV’s nearside and software that predicts the path and speed of the cyclist and the HGV. If it predicts the HGV is going to hit the cyclist when it turns, it automatically applies the HGVs brakes to bring it to a stop. An analysis of 19 fatal accidents involving a cyclist and a left-turning HGV concluded that 15 of these would have been completely avoided and 3 would have been less severe with the new system.

4. Autonomous emergency braking — From November 2015, autonomous emergency braking is now required as standard on most newly registered HGVs. It warns the driver of a potential collision, and if the driver does not brake (or does not brake hard enough) it executes emergency braking (to 5 m/h)
In fact, creating better designed and safer vehicles was one of six key priorities announced by Transport for London in 2015. Source.

WHAT IS THE AUSTRALIAN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY DOING?

In Australia, the National Road Safety Partnership Program (NRSPP), an industry and academic initiative with Monash University Accident Research Centre, is collaboratively adapting London’s CLOCS Standard to Australia and is advocating for its adoption by the Australian construction industry via the CLOCS-A (Australia) Standard.

The NRSPP has over 180 partner organisations, including the Local Government Association, and has established a Memorandum of Understanding to formalise the CLOCS-A which TfL did when establishing CLOCS. To date, CLOCS-A has 24 signatures and a further 30 supporting, including SGESCO-MAX. Supporters include:

• Many transport companies
• Transport for NSW
• Victoria’s Major Transport Infrastructure Authority
• Vulnerable User Associations such as Amy Gillett Foundation and Bicycle Queensland and
• Industry associations such as Australian Trucking Association and Truck Industry Council

Notably:

• Laing O’Rourke, one of Australia’s largest engineering firms, has signed onto CLOCS-A.
• As with the UK example, CLOCS-A will be more successful when Australia’s major construction companies come on board.

Metro Sydney and Victoria’s Major Transport Infrastructure Authority, both NRSPP partners, have already adopted several of the CLOCS initiatives for infrastructure projects being developed across their metropolitan regions. This required companies tendering for any work to meet the CLOCS-A Standard.

HOW LOCAL COUNCILS CAN CREATE A SAFER ENVIRONMENT DURING THE BRISBANE OLYMPICS CONSTRUCTION STAGE

Improving road safety has been a constant focus for the Brisbane City Council as part of its Transport Plan for Brisbane – Strategic Directions. Its various road safety programs include local safety improvements in residential neighbourhoods and high pedestrian areas such as local area traffic management (LATM), suburban corridor modernisation, which encompasses bike lanes, speed limiting and other regulations. Plus, the council identified nine pedestrian safety targets via their 2018 Move Safe Brisbane Citywide Pedestrian Safety Review.

These are all welcome initiatives however they don’t go far enough in obligating users of our roads – in particular, those likely to cause the most damage – to take greater responsibility for their safe transit on our roads.

This is what London did in the UK with its CLOCS Standard and WRRR Standard.

We need ambitious safety targets when it comes to Vulnerable Road Users, particularly in this Brisbane Olympics Construction phase.

We need to develop a safer community culture that is a shared responsibility. For organisations that has safety as a value this is – pardon the pun – where the rubber really meets the road.

If the Brisbane City Council, Gold Coast City Council and Sunshine Coast Councils were to legislate safety standards for construction and other vehicles on our roads, then our roads and vulnerable road users would be much safer. Since Covid there are many more vulnerable road users – the massive spike in bicycle sales is testament to that – and over the coming decade there is likely to be more VRUs in SE QLD.

Following what London, Sydney and Melbourne are doing in terms of making CLOCS-A part of any procurement contract is an important step to take.

What does this look like specifically?

The guidelines are all there in the CLOCs Toolkit:

1. Improve vehicle safety
2. Ensure work related road safety has equal priority with on-site health and safety
3. Encourage wider adoption of best practice across the logistics industry.

This involves providing specific direction on:

• Driver training and licensing to encompass education on VRUs & blind spots
• Vehicle safety equipment to remove blind spots and improve safety
• Supplier compliance
• Work related road risk in contracts
• Collision reporting and analysis
• An easy-to-use Compliance Manual.

Why do local authorities need to take the lead?

The London Road Safety Action Plan showed what could be achieved when purpose and a sense of urgency were brought to this life and death issue.

And, by the UK construction industry owning the issue – ahead of legislation – they were able to be an active part of the solution.

What is most telling though is a letter sent by CLOCS in September 2020 to every local council in Britain.

We, the leaders of five of the UK’s biggest professional and trade bodies in the built environment sector with collective membership of 100,000 professionals, are collectively asking you and every UK local authority and mayoralty, to take collective consistent action to prevent further tragic collisions between construction vehicles and your community.

CLOCS works. When councils and industry work together to adopt the Construction Logistics and Community Safety (CLOCS) Standard, we all save lives and money. Simple low cost defined actions by planners, construction clients, and principal contractors consistently reduce collisions by 47%, within 2 years, reduce complaints by 37% and reduce construction and fleet operator costs too.

HOW SGESCO-MAX PLANS TO HELP

Having provided heavy vehicle safety solutions for over 20 years – including critical Australian firsts – SGESCO-MAX understands the dangers of heavy vehicles and the innovations that will protect vulnerable road users.

We have progressively partnered with the waste management industry to develop specialised safety solutions that protect people and property, particularly in blind spot monitoring. We have also provided safety solutions for cement and civil companies.

We wholeheartedly support the aims of Australian NRSPP and of CLOCS-A, becoming the first vehicle safety developer to sign on as a partner.

We aim to work with LGAs involved in Brisbane Olympics construction projects and organisations like Bicycle Queensland to ensure that councils heed the lessons learnt from the UK and adopt standards to help ensure road safety. We’re here to help local construction companies as well.

The Olympic Games can be a Win for All

Aside from creating safer roads – think: more lives saved, less traffic hold-ups – there are other compelling reasons to adopt a CLOCS WRRR standard in SE Queensland – and indeed across Australia.

One of the early adopters of CLOCS in the UK, FM Conway, which has a fleet of 890 vehicles, has seen a 32% reduction in incidents and a 49.5% reduction in premiums, according to their head of corporate social responsibility, Sharon Fields. Source.

Now that’s a powerful incentive to support this critical road safety initiative.

With thanks to NRSPP and Transport for London for images.