Safety of heavy vehicles

Purpose

This standard defines an analysis methodology to assign a safety rating to heavy vehicles based on the dangerousness level associated to its use in an environment shared by other users such as automobilists, cyclists, pedestrians and others. This rating expressed in the form of a measuring scale would enable to define the key elements of the dangerousness of an heavy vehicle operation such as, but not limited to, direct (driver’s visual field) and indirect (mirrors and rear-view mirrors) visibility quality of the driver, driving aid (detection equipment via a camera, sonar, motion detector), configuration of the vehicle (size, rollover radius, haulage capacity, cab positioning), presence of fixed protective devices fixes (side bars, hidden wheels, etc.) and presence of warning devices (lights, turn signals, back-up alarm).

Scope

This rating could eventually be used by the manufacturers, motor vehicle fleet managers, trucking schools, heavy vehicles operators, authorities in charge of the road safety in order to guide the use of the vehicles based on the sensitivity of the environment in which they operate, guide the motor vehicle fleet managers to buy their automotive equipment, improve training of heavy vehicles operators, restrict use of certain types of heavy vehicles in certain at-risk environments, define obligations or contractual incentive instruments, define an identification system of the heavy vehicle risk level for other road users, etc.