How the ‘Direct Vision’ Design Approach Saves Lives

A nonprofit calling itself Together for Safe Roads is promoting a vehicle design approach dubbed “direct vision,” which prioritizes pedestrian safety by removing blind spots, particularly for large trucks and industrial vehicles.

As Megan Quinn explains in Smart Cities Dive, the Direct Vision Leadership Council, launched by the organization, “believes better adoption of such designs, alongside additional vehicle safety methods, will reduce crashes.”

According to Quinn, “ TSR says the design could lower incidents such as pedestrian collisions by about 23% compared with “conventionally designed” trucks. It recently published a direct vision fleet transition guide to help operators integrate the vehicles into fleets.”

Some cities are already taking action. New York City’s sanitation company uses direct vision design trucks for waste hauling. “Other waste companies, such as Republic Services, are integrating new vehicles into their fleets that have additional safety features including 360-degree external cameras, lane-departure sensors and a direct vision cab design.” A city law passed in 2024 requires all city truck purchases to include 360-degree cameras or other direct vision technology. London, which has required some trucks to meet direct vision standards since 2019, saw a 49 percent reduction in fatal crashes involving large trucks.