Comment & Analysis: It feels like Ger Hyland, the president of the Irish Road Haulage Association, is up for a fight, even where theres no need for one. This time, before his deflection, the topic was councillors saying that only trucks with better visibility of people walking and cycling should be allowed in Dublin City Centre.On RTE Radio Ones Today Show yesterday, Hyland managed to push a discussion on an element of systematic safety into being mainly about individual behaviour. Systematic safety looks to fix the underlying organisational, design, and procedural causes of risk designing out and reducing risk before we get too focused on behaviour alone.Systematic safety does not make for entertaining radio listening. Theres likely fewer listener text messages anyway. Hyland said: A lot of our members and a lot of the transport community have invested in camera systems on their trucks. We have audible warnings when vehicles are turning left. We have sensors on the passenger side at the front corner of our trucks in a lot of cases that will tell us when somebody comes into the periphery of that vehicle.So we have as an industry which has invested heavily in safety and safety features, and I have to say here that nobody gets up this morning, goes out and decides theyre going to be involved in an accident, but in fairness, then you know safety begins first and foremost with oneself, he said before going on about cyclists as if they do get up in the morning looking to get involved in a collision. But before looking at what he says about cyclists, lets stick to the topic a bit first. Lets not entertain his deflection tactics as much as radio hosts are willing to (even broadcasters who cycle).The direct vision standard aims for the best possible vision between the driver and any possible person walking or cycling around them. Layered on top of that is the Progressive Safe System better mirrors, cameras, and sensors that cover blind spots, along with other measures such as audio warnings and side guardrails on trucks to prevent people from being dragged under them. Blind spots are areas where drivers cannot see, and they can be very large on trucks. Its so bad on some trucks that cars beside a truck on a motorway might be invisible to drivers.Ideally, streets should be designed so that large trucks and people cycling do not meet. Traffic signals can offer whats called segregation in time, where turning trucks do not have a green light at the same time as cyclists going ahead. But on compact city and town centre streets, where trucks are often needed, the next best thing to designing safer streets is designing safer trucks.There are two legal systems at play Londons Direct Vision Standard and the EUs General Safety Regulations. The former is ahead of the latter in its rollout, while the latter seems to have delayed the actual direct vision aspect of truck design until 2029 or later. So, there are now some other differences in whats required to be compliant with both, whether with direct vision or with complementary or compensating measures, such as those in the Progressive Safe System.In English: If there is no direct line of sight from the drivers seat to around their cab, then additional cameras or alert systems need to be retrofitted. The EU system is weak on retrofitting measures for existing trucks, leaving it to member states, while the London system already demands it.So, the kind of measures Hyland says the industry has invested in is essentially whats required, and most are now standard on all new trucks sold in the EU. And Hyland adds: A lot of us would have retrofitted stuff such as cameras, audible warnings, sensors on the left-hand side of our truck that will tell us when somebody comes into the vicinity of that truck.So, what was Hyland on about on the radio yesterday here? It seems hes trying to avoid having the retrofitting of safety measures proven effective in London become mandatory anywhere in Ireland. Otherwise, whats he on about?Added to that, he managed to distract with some of his usual tropes about cyclists, even after those involved with supporting better visibility on trucks made it clear that they were concerned with systems change rather than blaming individual truck drivers. The designs and features we are talking about allow drivers to see people in what would otherwise be blind spots and give warnings to people outside the trucks. On air with him, Colm Ryder of the Dublin Cycling Campaign even tried to make the point that the group had worked with truck fleet owners to improve safety. But Hyland instead repeatedly focuses on the benvor of cyclists, including people cycling up inside a truck with its indicators on to turn left. Generally speaking, if youre cycling, you really should avoid doing this, especially if youre unsure whether theres an advanced green light for cycling. Its better to hold back than to risk it.Hyland seems to generalise that truck drivers are good and cyclists are bad; the reality is that both groups are just flawed humans. A noteworthy difference is that one is in command of a vehicle weighing 3-15+ tons unloaded, which is involved with a disproportionate amount of deaths per year, and the other uses a vehicle involved with 1-2 deaths a decade.Its worth saying that improving vision standards isnt just about cyclists. It would also help with the number of pedestrians killed each year, especially elderly people who cannot move fast at crossings and can get caught in the blind spots at the front of trucks.The idea that truck drivers are waiting at traffic lights and cyclists pile in beside the truck about to turn is an often-repeated story from truck drivers; its also been shown to be a generalisation sometimes it also happens the other way around. One or more cyclists are waiting, and a truck driver pulls up to the stop line. Sadly, its been proven that the person on a bicycle was there first in situations where they have ended up seriously injured or killed. And often there are other issues too, including defective mirrors and sometimes driver impairment. And Ive seen cyclists wait behind truckloads of time, even when Lemmings kept going. When was the last time you saw a truck driver hold back because theres a cyclist ahead of them in a cycle lane or just to the edge of the road? Both groups will always make mistakes, and thats why a safer systems approach is better than focusing mainly on behaviour. Hyland focuses instead on individual behaviour, as if truck drivers are superhuman and only cyclists are ever in the wrong, and then, at the end of the item, tries again to flog the dead horse that is high-vis and helmets for all cyclists. The political reaction to the idea was so strong that there was a lightning-fast U-turn, but the media keeps lapping it up because it riles people up, and the format of most radio shows means were unable to have anything more than a surface-deep conversation about it.When it comes to trucks, helmets are unlikely to help with most impacts, and high-vis cannot improve a blind spot; most visibility issues on the side of a bicycle would be fixed by enforcing the current rules on lights. I am writing all of the above with the knowledge that some of the best driving I encounter while cycling comes from truck drivers, and I always try to give extra space to HGV drivers (even to the point of being abused by clueless motorists behind me on more than one occasion). The measures proposed for Dublin would only help truck drivers do their jobs.