Safety is at the heart of the city council’s fleet, with the entire fleet of new Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) along with their welfare buses all equipped with enhanced safety features.
The council is investing over £25m into their new HGVs and welfare buses as part of our wider £56.8m Fleet Asset Management Plan 2023-2029.
Edinburgh has taken inspiration from the Progressive Safe System (PSS) which was implemented by Transport for London (TfL) in October 2024 to enhance vehicle awareness and reduce the likelihood of collisions.
There are seven key requirements under PSS:
- 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 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.
Whilst there are no such safety requirement anywhere else in the UK outside of London, 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.
The city council’s 152 strong HGV fleet is comprised of refuse collection vehicles, road sweepers, road gritters, mobile library uses, construction vehicles in roads services, and utility trucks for maintaining streets and greenspace.
Whilst our 27 welfare buses, which transport children with Additional Support Needs (ASN), are not classed as HGV Edinburgh took the decision to order these buses with the new safety features. These vehicles operate in and around schools and built-up areas during peak travel times so it’s important they are as safe as possible for everyone.
The council has now taken delivery of over 70 of our new HGVs, 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, Councillor Stephen Jenkinson said: “I was delighted to go down to Bankhead this morning to see some of these new vehicles firsthand 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.”