A new safety standard has been proposed to help reduce the number of collisions between heavy goods vehicles and other roads users.

Oxford City Council has agreed all construction vehicles passing through the city will have to adhere to a new safety standard.

Known as Construction Logistics and Community Safely Standard (CLOCS), this will require developers of large construction sites to plan the movement of their HGVs to keep them away from busy or high risk areas, such as school gates during drop off times.

Since 2020, four cyclists have been killed in collisions with HGVs in Oxford.

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Councillor and cabinet member for planning and housing delivery, Alex Hollingsworth, said: “Pedestrians and cyclists have the right to feel safe when they travel around Oxford.

“Becoming a CLOCS champion will drive up standards by requiring larger developers to consider how their HGVs are moving around Oxford, and improve the safety standards of their vehicles.”

Mr Hollingsworth said he hoped the decision would encourage other regulators, developers and fleet operators in Oxfordshire to become “CLOCS champions” so that “together we can ensure no cyclists or pedestrians are killed or injured by construction vehicles on our roads”.

The safety standard was created by the UK’s construction and fleet industry and aims to eliminate collisions with road users and reduce vehicle journey times.

Last Friday, a county councillor, Trish Elphinstone, 59, was taken to hospital after a collision in Cowley on Friday, April 21, left her head “matted with blood”.

Mrs Elphinstone was cycling to a meeting to discuss road safety and said the collision was “ironic”.

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The new safety standard supports Oxfordshire County Council’s commitment- known as Vision Zero- to eliminate deaths and serious injuries from road traffic collisions in Oxfordshire by 2050.

In 2018, over 5,500 pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists were injured in a collision with construction vehicles on Britain’s roads.