On behalf of Cyclist.ie, Deputy Tommy Broughan (Ind) kindly asked Parliamentary Questions (PQ) – directed at Minister Frances Fitzgerald (Justice) concerning the An Garda detection & enforcement of the Dublin City Council HGV permit system
- PQ68: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the status of the Heavy Goods Vehicle permit system for Dublin City including the number of permits issued in 2014 to 2016 to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
- PQ69: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number and results of discrete Heavy Goods Vehicles stopping and checking operations An Garda Síochána has carried out to detect the permit status of Heavy Goods Vehicles requiring a permit in each of the years 2014 to 2016 to date; the number of multi-agency check-point stoppings conducted with An Garda Síochána, the Health and Safety Authority and the Road Safety Authority; and if she will make a statement on the matter
Response:
I am informed by the Garda authorities that the Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) permit system, which is administered by Dublin City Council under its HGV Management Strategy, continues to operate within Dublin City Centre from Monday to Friday, during the hours 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. The system requires HGVs utilising 5-axles to obtain a permit to travel inside a designated cordon area to conduct business or make deliveries. HGVs using 4-axles do not require a permit to enter the cordon area. Details of the number of permits issued are a matter for Dublin City Council.
I am further informed by the Garda authorities that Garda checkpoints cover all areas of road traffic legislation and roads policing, including HGV requirements. However, specific details on the number of such checkpoints are not available, with the exception of Mandatory Alcohol Testing Checkpoints and Truck/HGV Checkpoints, which are recorded on PULSE. In the period 2014 – 19 May 2016, An Garda Síochána has conducted 3,763 Truck / HGV Checkpoints. I am advised by An Garda Síochána that these figures are provisional, operational and subject to change. An Garda Síochána has further advised that multi-agency checkpoints with other agencies, including the Road Safety Authority, are not separately recorded on the Garda PULSE System
The crushing of a bicycle under a 4-axle rigid HGV carrying spoil yesterday at Leeson Street bridge in Dublin 4 only goes to show just how vulnerable cyclists are in congested traffic where semi-trailer and rigid HGVs are present in ever increasing numbers due to the construction boom.
Thankfully the rider escaped this time unlike the female rider who had both legs crushed at Charlemont bridge last March.
Officialdom is failing to understand that these rigs are characterised by a cab design with a fatal flaw where the driver can’t see all around him and where the truck manufacturers refused to redesign the cabs when called on to do so by the EU Commission last autumn.
The Health and Safety Authority, The Road Safety Authority and An Garda Siochana must now ensure that all operators and drivers of these rigs understand that the manufacturers never designed them for use in congested urban areas – they are for inter-urban use using motorway networks, where there are no cyclists.
New risk assessments must be undertaken it the light of this reality. At the very least the driver should have a co-driver present to act as a second pair of eyes and to get out to direct traffic if necessary.