The City of Edinburgh Council has invested more than £25 million in new heavy goods vehicles and welfare buses as part of its wider £56.8 million Fleet Asset Management Plan for the period 2023-2029.
The council has copied the Progressive Safe System (PSS) implemented by Transport for London (TfL) in October last year to improve vehicle awareness and with an aim of reducing the likelihood of collisions.
PSS has seven principles:
Camera monitoring system fitted to the vehicle’s nearside
Class V and VI mirrors
Blind spot sensors fitted to the vehicles nearside
Moving off sensors fitted to the front of the vehicle
Side under-run protection on both sides of the vehicle
Audible warning alerts when vehicles turn left
Prominent visual warning signage
In addition to adhering to PSS requirements, all the new vehicles are fitted with an Advanced Emergency Braking System (AEBS). AEBS uses sensors to monitor a vehicle’s surroundings and automatically apply the brakes if a collision is likely.
The council took the decision to ensure all HGVs purchased as part of the replacement programme were equipped with the technology to meet this standard even though it is not a legal requirement anywhere except the City of London.
The council’s 152 HGV vehicles include refuse collection vehicles, road sweepers, road gritters, mobile library uses, construction vehicles in roads services, and utility trucks for maintaining streets and greenspace.
The 27 welfare buses, which transport children with Additional Support Needs (ASN), are not classed as HGV but the council decided to order these buses with the new safety features. These vehicles operate in and around schools and built-up areas during peak travel times.
More than 70 of the new HGVs have been delivered, with all new refuse collection vehicles due to arrive by the end of March 2025 and all other HGVs due to be in service this year.
Transport and Environment Convener, Cllr Stephen Jenkinson said: “I was delighted to go down to Bankhead to see some of these new vehicles first-hand and talk to our colleagues who operate them. We have a responsibility to our colleagues and our residents to make sure our fleet is as safe as possible. This is why we’re investing tens of millions of pounds into our fleet.
“With these changes I’m confident that we have the most advanced local authority fleet in Scotland when it comes to safety features. I hope that other parts of Scotland and the UK will look to London and Edinburgh’s example and follow suit.
“Safety is an absolute priority for us when delivering our services and I have no doubt that these new features will have a positive impact.”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
