Milan makes blind spot sensors mandatory for trucks and buses

Milan, ban on heavy vehicles without sensors for recognizing people and cyclists and stickers on blind spots.But with exceptions.

• The rule that obliges heavy vehicles to be equipped with blind spot sensors has been in force since 2 October.
• The measure was taken in July to stop the massacre of pedestrians and cyclists in the center of Milan.
• But until the end of 2024 it will be enough to have booked the devices, which are difficult to find given the boom in requests.

Enough of the deaths on the streets of Milan due to trucks, enough of pedestrians and cyclists who risk being hit by the infamous blind spots of heavy vehicles, those black spaces that not even the rear-view mirrors can frame.From the October 2, within the Milan metropolitan area, it has become mandatory for heavy vehicles to have so-called pedestrian and cyclist detection sensors installed on board.

The novelty is part of the package mobility measures that were adopted last July 11th by the Milanese council to improve traffic, reduce accidents, promote transport and the quality of life of citizens.However, the sensor regulation was scheduled to come into force at the beginning of October.

Who will install blind spot sensors?

From now on, in area B of Milan, the limited traffic zone which coincides with much of the city's territory, the ban on access and circulation of vehicles intended for the transport of people with more than eight seats, and of vehicles intended for the transport of goods weighing 3.5 tonnes or more is in force from 7.30 to 19.30, if not equipped with sensors:advanced systems capable of detecting the presence of pedestrians and cyclists located near the front of the vehicle or on the side of the pavement and emitting an alert signal.It must also be indicated on the vehicles via a warning sticker the presence of the blind spot.

However, there are exceptions, even if temporary:the vehicles in question will still be able to circulate without the sensors until the end of 2024, if the owners they will be able to demonstrate that they have already purchased the devices to detect blind spots.A way to deal with the already very real possibility that devices, in the face of sudden great demand, could be "unavailable" on the market for a long time.Furthermore, for vehicles of higher mass, the so-called M2, (buses with more than eight seats in addition to the driver's seat and a maximum mass not exceeding 5 tonnes, and N2 (vehicles intended for the transport of goods, with a maximum mass exceeding 3.5 tonnes but not exceeding 12 tonnes) the bans will only come into effect in October 2024, with the same possibility of derogation no later than 31 December 2025.

At the moment the European directive provides for the obligation to equip blind spot detection and alarm sensors all newly approved heavy vehicles from 2022 and all newly registered heavy vehicles from 2024, but Milan is the first Italian city to adopt an ad hoc provision, while other European cities, such as London, have already done so.Mobility councilor Arianna Censi in recent months, during the discussion phase with representatives of transport and business companies, had spoken of a rule "capable of meeting the needs of complex mobility in a large metropolis like Milan.We are committed to the city to provide a solution in the shortest possible time and with the greatest prospects of success."

Listen to our commentary Roberto Sposini in the last episode of Extra Time dedicated to mobility

A lot or too little?

For pedestrians and cyclists in Milan this is certainly a step forward, but many of them are not convinced by all these exemptions listed above:for example Tommaso Goisis, activist of Do you know what you can?, an association of Milanese citizens that fights for a more sustainable city, recalls that the entry into force of the new rule "does not mean that from today all truck drivers will be warned of the presence of people in blind spots.What is actually mandatory from today is only the yellow sticker, which rather than reducing the danger serves to warn those traveling on foot or by bike".Do you know what you can?just a month ago, he demonstrated outside Palazzo Marino, the headquarters of the Municipality of Milan, to ask “No more deaths in the streets” and to affirm that "the time is no longer for moderate choices that preserve the state of things, Milan must now choose which side you want to be on".Then there is even the opposite case, that of the Confederation of road hauliers. Do that even considers the measure punitive and illegitimate and issued a warning to the Municipality.

The demonstration on August 29th had been called after the death, two days earlier, of a 28-year-old girl, Francesca Quaglia, hit by an earth transport truck.In April, with a similar dynamic, he lost his life Christina Scotland, The 39-year-old was hit on her bike by a concrete mixer, while in May it was a man who lost his life 55 year old Chinese citizen, killed by a truck at an intersection, while on 18 September the Amsa truck driver hit and killed a pedestrian, betrayed by a blind spot.