2013 Boston Truck Side Guard Pilot
In 2013, the City of Boston installed Side Underride Guards (Side Guards) on 18 Public Works trucks as part of a pilot test to reduce the risk of 'under-ride fatalities' to cyclists in the case of a crash.
Since 2013, we've been installing Side Guards on City fleet vehicles, and starting in 2015 we required them to be installed in all City-owned and City-contracted trucks under our Side Guard Ordinance. We hope to serve as a model for other municipalities, and we encourage all truck owners and fleet managers to follow our lead.
For more information about Side Guards and to request an inspection of Side Guards installed on your large vehicle, please visit the City of Boston Inspectional Services web page.
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Why we did this
In 2012, Boston experienced five bicycle fatalities, four of which occurred with either a large truck or a bus.
The City worked with Dr. Alex Epstein and his team from the U.S. Department of Transportation Volpe Center in Cambridge. We researched best practices regarding large vehicles and the more vulnerable users of the roadways.
One solution identified was Side Guards. What are Side Guards? Side Guards are bars or flat-surfaces mounted between the front and rear wheels of large vehicles that prevent cyclists and pedestrians from being trapped in the space, and killed or severely injured. This is a design used throughout Europe and Japan, and in some US and Canadian cities.
In fact, a national law made Side Guards mandatory in the United Kingdom. One study showed deaths of cyclists who collided with trucks decreased by 61 percent.
The experiment
Our hypothesis? Adding Side Guards to some of the City’s trucks would improve the safety of cyclists and other vulnerable users on the road. It would also encourage other cities and fleet managers to make similar investments.
In 2014 Public Works retro-fitted 18 trucks with Side Guards using resources from the Streetscape Innovation Fund. The truck models years were 2005 or later and included:
- dump trucks
- box trucks, and
- trash collection vehicles.
This is believed to be the largest pilot of Side Guards on municipal vehicles in the country. Side Guards are now required on all large vehicles added to the City's fleet and City-contracted vehicles.
Lessons learned and results
One crash with a side-guard equipped trash vehicle was reported in the summer 2014. The cyclist was injured, but the crash did not result in that person’s death.
results: new requirement for side guardsThe pilot led to the City passing a Side Guard Ordinance in 2014 that took effect in 2015, requiring City-owned and City-contracted large vehicles to be equipped with Side Guards, convex and crossover mirrors, and safety decals.
Getting others involvedSince the initial pilot, over a hundred vehicles in Boston have been outfitted with Side Guards. Many private fleet managers have attended a demonstration on Side Guards, and the cities of Cambridge and Somerville have adopted similar requirements.
Since the passage of the Citywide Side Guard Ordinance, more than a dozen US cities plus Washington DC have adopted Boston's approach.
The City supports regulations proposed in 2024 for state-wide adoption, and has also worked with USDOT and our Congressional delegation to advocate for national requirements.
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Have questions? Contact:doit Office of emerging technology
