Mention the Glasgow Bin Lorry Crash and people will generally associate this with the 6 deaths that happened just before Christmas 2014, and a great solemnity with which the leader of Glasgow Council, Gordon Matheson promised that we would have answers as quickly as possible, on his visit to the scene the following morning.
Now, has this been an air or rail incident we would have seen a statement of the basic facts, and the intention to investigate (or not - in some cases where no new lessons would be learned) within 2 weeks of the incident. This effectively quashes the spread of speculations and rumour and sets the platform to collate objective and impartial evidence for the independent and objective investigation process.
It hasn't happened, and we are now 4 months later with no public detail concerning a report in progress or inquiry having been convened.
By law, the Road Traffic Act does mandate that Glasgow Council takes action, through the massively flawed Section 39 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1988. This says that Glasgow Council MUST investigate crashes - in this case a crash of a vehicle operated by Glasgow Council, and driven by a Glasgow Council employee - but then, and this beggars belief, from those investigation reports Glasgow Council MUST tell themselves what measures to put in place to avoid or mitigate the risk of any similar incident in the future. As Juvenal noted 2000 years ago Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes basically the fox is running the security patrols for the hen house!
There is no requirement to publish any Section 39 investigation reports, not the recommendations and action taken. compare this with the Rail Accident Investigations - fully available on-line, for the purpose of ensuring everyone can learn from their findings.
I did an FoIA request for the Section 39 data from Glasgow, and others have sought this from their local Councils, generally finding that the material offered would fail as a submission for a Scottish Highers exam, let alone a properly written investigative report. Glasgow offered 2 A4 sheets listing the number and location of crashes, by way of 'investigations carried out over the past 5 years' - although this detail was only covering 4 years - 2 years per sheet.
To see how a road crash report should be delivered it is useful to look at the Oxshott incident in 2010 where a concrete mixer truck crashed over a bridge on to a train, very nearly breaking the run, since 2007, of not having any passenger killed on any UK train service. In that report https://www.gov.uk/raib-reports/bridge-strike-and-road-vehicle-incursion-onto-the-roof-of-a-passing-train-near-oxshott-station RAIB tells Surrey CC and DfT what measures they should be taking to prevent any future crashes of this type, both at the specific site and on similar sites elsewhere. they make a single recommendation (enforceable through the Rail Regulator) for Network Rail to review bridges where this hazard exists, and get the recommendations made to the Roads providers, delivered.
The diligent and independent investigation of crashes, with the enforcement of recommended action through an independent regulator- something we do not have for the infrastructure and only a piecemeal provision for the commercial operation of vehicles (buses/trucks & taxis & minibuses - but not the growing number of small vans, and mobile plant) on the roads.
PACTS The Parliamentary Transport Safety Group reported on this in 25 March, calling for a Highways Accident Investigation Branch and a regulatory framework to match those for rail, air and marine transport. It is on the table post GE2015 but we may be able to deliver it in Scotland directly, and ahead of England.
I said Bin Lorry Crashes, and prior to the Christmas 2014 one, Glasgow killed a pensioner through poor management of reversing a bin lorry, and then had another driver collapse at the wheel last week and crash into a garden on a narrow and steep residential road (Kings Park).
3 points would probably be noted in an RAIB-style report on the Christmas crash.
1) the bin lorry fleet has Euro 5/6 engine management systems. These can be connected to geo-location beacons or GPS which directly controls the maximum speed that can be attained within an area - already used for oil depots and similar sites etc. In this way bin lorries operated in pedestrian zones can be limited to 5-10 mph, as can buses in Bus Stations, and 20mph limits enforced by the fact that large vehicles become moving speed limiters.
2) the reversing move and other considerations should see bin lorries fitted with intelligent proximity sensors, that apply the brakes when a pedestrian is detected too close to the truck.
3) Glasgow Council as admitted that it buys the trucks solely on price, and as such buys trucks with high cabs and high ground clearance - for off road capability, which it needs less than 0.5% of the time. Many Councils or their contractors now pay the premium of 15-20% to buy a direct vision, walk-in cab, to reduce staff injuries (climbing up into the cab and slipping on the steps), increase staff efficiency (faster getting in and out when truck stops to collect from bins) and with the safety benefit of being able to directly look, at eye-level at the pedestrians and cyclists outside. This also has a further benefit - the lower cab and front valance may mean that instead of hitting a 'victim' at hip level, and knocking them flat . to be run over by the wheels, the cab shape will hit a pedestrian forwards, and possibly to the side, eliminating the main reason that HGV impacts with pedestrians, occurring at roughly the same rate per vehicle per year as bus impacts, result in 4 x as many fatal injuries, largely through being crushed under the wheels. The side panels and valances on a bus or coach, coming down much closer to the ground, prevent that fatal detail of the victim in an impact going under the vehicle and then under the wheels.
The report if done effectively should require Glasgow Council to equip its vehicles, especially those used in areas of high pedestrian traffic, with 1) speed limiting systems and 2) proximity brake application systems, in a progressive and time limited programme, and to plan the replacement of vehicles to specify low-cab vehicles with front and side panels which work to deflect any road user involved in a collision with the vehicle, clear and away from the risk of being run over by the wheels.
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