
Advocacy Update: MassDOT Truck Safety Regulations Hearing Recap

On Friday, July 12th, MassDOT held a hearing about the truck safety requirements, which are slated to take full effect in January 2025. Large trucks owned, operated, or contracted by the Commonwealth will be required to have side guards, improved convex mirrors, and backup cameras. This was part of the legislative work “An Act to Reduce Traffic Fatalities” that was signed into law by Charlie Baker in 2023, with the goal to get enhanced safety devices on as many trucks as possible throughout the Commonwealth to protect vulnerable road users.
In advance of the hearing, MassBike, as part of the Vision Zero Coalition, signed onto a coalition letter. During the hearing, MassBike Executive Director, Galen Mook, provided testimony in support of the regulations along with partners from LivableStreets Alliance and WalkMassachusetts.
At the hearing, friends and family of people killed in crashes appeared in person at the MassDOT board room to provide powerful testimony in support of safer trucks. We appreciate their advocacy, and for sharing their heartbreaking stories. We are continually amazed at the courage and strength it takes to stand in front of policymakers to discuss the loss of loved ones.
Opening the hearing, the first comments were made by Cambridge Vice Mayor Marc McGovern, who spoke regarding his support of these safety measures and noted how Cambridge has implemented these safety measures on municipal trucks it controls, but many other trucks are using Cambridge streets that are out of its jurisdiction to control. Vice Mayor McGovern spoke on how the City of Cambridge has experienced two fatal bicyclist crashes involving large trucks making right turns this summer which may have been prevented if the truck drivers had better visibility. We are grateful that elected officials from Cambridge attended the hearing, and thank you to Cambridge City Councilor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler for also testifying in support of safer trucks.
We also heard from Charlotte Fleetwood from the City of Boston, who shared Boston’s support and implementation of these safety measures as part of their Safe Systems approach to large vehicle safety. By following the lead of cities like Boston and Cambridge, we hope that all of Massachusetts' 351 municipalities will comply with these requirements to keep the public safe on our roads and sidewalks. The goal is for every truck on our roads to be as safe as possible to prevent deaths.
Also thank you to every one of our members and those on the Vision Zero Coalition list who emailed in support of safer trucks! Your advocacy is crucial to ensuring these regulations are implemented as broadly as possible. During the hearing, the MassDOT council mentioned that they received far more comments than usual for the truck safety hearing.
MassDOT recently released the findings of their Direct Vision Study, which determined what the drivers of MassDOT vehicles can see with their own eyes while driving. The results confirmed that MassBike and the Vision Zero Coalition have been saying, that larger trucks have extreme blind spots that put vulnerable road users at risk. The study found that “50% of the heavy-duty vehicles in the study cannot see a child directly in front of the vehicle in the crosswalk.” As for the side visibility of the vehicles studied, “drivers in 90% of the trucks cannot see a child in the bike lane and 80% cannot see an adult in a bike lane.”
We anticipate using MassDOT’s Direct Vision Study during our next round of Vision Zero Advocacy. MassBike is currently working with the Vision Zero Coalition to determine legislative priorities and find champions to sponsor safer roadway bills. We highly encourage you to reach out to your elected officials to let them know you support safer trucks and to suggest they work with the Vision Zero Coalition to enable safer roadways in your community.
Our work continues to get to zero deaths and serious injuries on our public ways, and we truly appreciate the support we receive to meet the very real need for road safety across the commonwealth.