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The City of Seattle
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An ordinance relating to City contracts; requesting the development of new recommended requirements for truck lateral protective devices that would be applicable to City contractors; requesting consideration of recommendations for complementary safety equipment; and describing specific dimensions for all requested recommended requirements.
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Recitals:
The Council is considering CB 121296, CB 121297, and CB 121298, collectively called the SAFER (Safe Accountable Flexible Equitable Responsive) Streets bills, with the goal of increasing the safety, health, and equitable mobility of those who use Seattle roadways for walking, rolling, biking, using a micromobility device, using a wheelchair or other mobility device, riding a motorcycle or moped, or accessing transit. Therefore,
Be it ordained by The City of Seattle as follows:
Section 1. The City finds and declares:
A. A Vision Zero Plan is a strategy for significantly reducing traffic fatalities and severe injuries while increasing safe, healthy, and equitable mobility.
B. A Vision Zero Plan is both proactive and responsive, emphasizing infrastructure and policies that minimize the risk of severe injuries or fatalities.
C. Truck lateral protective devices, commonly known as truck side guards or underride guards, are vehicle-based safety devices designed to keep pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists from being run over by a large truck’s rear wheels in a side-impact collision.
D. Nationally, bicyclist fatalities due to a traffic accident have risen over 50 percent in the past decade, and although about one percent of all trips are bicycling trips, bicyclists make up almost three percent of traffic fatalities, and most such fatalities involve motor vehicles.
E. While large trucks comprise four percent of registered vehicles, a recent study found that they were involved in approximately eight percent of pedestrian fatalities and 11 percent of bicyclist fatalities. Another study found that 32 percent of bicyclist and pedestrian fatalities from impacts with large trucks occurred after an initial impact with the side of the truck.
F. Truck lateral protective devices have been required by many jurisdictions internationally, beginning in 1979 in Japan, and studies have found that they reduce the fatality rate for bicyclist and pedestrian impacts with large trucks. After the United Kingdom mandated the use of these devices, this fatality rate decreased for bicyclists by 61 percent and for pedestrians by 20 percent.
G. There is no requirement, either at the federal or at the Washington State level, relating to the use of truck lateral protective devices.
H. A pilot program in Boston studying the use of truck lateral protective devices found a reduction in pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities due to side impact with a large truck, and in 2014 the Boston City Council passed an ordinance specifying the use of these devices, including both technical and regulatory specifications.
I. Since that time, other United States cities seeking to reduce the risk of injury to non-motorists who are involved in collisions with large trucks have developed their own mandates concerning these devices, generally based on the collaborative effort of various city departments and stakeholders, local advocacy groups, and community stakeholders.
J. Other cities and city departments have voluntarily adopted standards for the use of truck lateral protection devices. For example, the Seattle Department of Transportation requires that the devices are installed on the large trucks it owns.
K. The City Council recognizes the Boston ordinance, now codified in Chapter 4-8 of the Boston Municipal Code, as a model for comparator cities seeking to develop requirements relating to the use of truck lateral protective devices, in particular by extending such requirements to City contractors.
Section 2. The City Council requests that the Department of Finance and Administrative Services (FAS), in collaboration with the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) and any other City departments, develop recommended new safety requirements and related specifications, applicable to all City contractors, sub-contractors, vendors, and sub-vendors, for the use by large trucks of truck lateral protective devices. In developing the recommended requirements, FAS should also consider making recommendations related to complementary safety equipment, such as convex mirrors, cross-over mirrors, and safety decals.
FAS, in collaboration with SDOT and any other City departments, should conduct an engagement process that includes the Seattle Freight Advisory Board, the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board, and other affected stakeholders as appropriate to inform the development of recommended requirements and specifications that are technically feasible, workable in Seattle, and likely to be effective. The recommended requirements should model Boston Municipal Code Chapter 4-8 to the extent practicable and should address, at a minimum, the following:
A. The types of trucks, and the gross or unladen vehicle weight of each type of truck, as applicable, to which the requirements apply;
B. Design, strength, dimension, composition, technical, fit, installation, and maintenance specifications for truck lateral protective devices and, as applicable, any other related safety equipment that is the subject of similar new requirements. Such equipment may include alternatives to truck lateral protective devices, such as toolboxes, that are designed to fulfill a particular function and additionally meet all requirements for truck lateral protective devices;
C. Maximum vehicle width, for each type of truck to which the policy applies, inclusive of installed truck lateral protective devices and any other related safety equipment;
D. For vehicles meeting lateral-protection standards by design, the ability of those vehicles’ owners to submit documentation thereof and obtain waivers from relevant installation, maintenance, and inspection requirements that are specific to truck lateral protective devices;
E. Regular inspections of each contractor and subcontractor vehicle with installed truck lateral protective devices;
F. The enforcement framework, including penalties for non-compliance, of any new regulations; and
G. The effective date of the new regulations in new or renegotiated City contracts.
Section 3. No later than May 1, 2027, FAS, in collaboration with SDOT and any other City departments, should submit to the Council recommendations for requirements governing truck lateral protective devices and complementary safety equipment for City contractors, subcontractors, vendors, and subvendors. The recommendations should address the elements identified in Section 2 of this ordinance, identify proposed legislative concepts with sample suggested legislative language or other actions necessary for implementation, and consider the work contemplated pursuant to Executive Order 2026-05. The Council intends to consider these recommended requirements in developing future legislation establishing new requirements applicable to City contractors, subcontractors, vendors, and subvendors. Nothing in this ordinance grants additional authority to adopt or impose the contemplated requirements without subsequent Council action, nor does it limit the authority that otherwise exists under applicable law.
Attachment:
Attachment A - Boston Municipal Code Chapter 4-8
This ordinance shall take effect as provided by Seattle Municipal Code Sections 1.04.020 and 1.04.070.
Passed by the City Council and signed in open session in authentication of its passage on .
President of the City Council
on .
Katie B. Wilson, Mayor
Lenné Dedman, City Clerk