01.05.2025

Obstructed vision

A UK police force has raised a potential issue regarding obstructed vision caused by a hook block attached to the front bumper pintle hook, when travelling on the road.

Here is the post:

CPA, the UK crane association has raised this in a letter to members and is seeking feedback on this issue. Here is the letter.

Dear Member

We have been made aware of a post from earlier this month, on the Facebook page of the Lancashire Police Specialist Operations Commercial Vehicle Team, in relation to forward visibility and their latest aid in improving road safety.

Please see the full Facebook post from Lancashire Police, with the related photos, above.

Following this, we are aware that there have been some instances of police forces operating across the M6 corridor area, taking an increased interest in the stowage of hooks on mobile cranes – especially the forward visibility from the chassis cab.

We are keen to hear firsthand from members, whether they have been stopped in recent weeks by police, and what justification / actions have been taken by the police as a result of these stops.

To be clear, we are not aware of any new legislation coming into effect regarding the traditional stowage methods of hook blocks on mobile cranes during public highway transit, but we are concerned that the police at a local level, might well be looking to increase operations in stopping the legitimate movement of operators due to this issue.

We are keen to see if there has been an increase in these stops by the police which goes against well-established practices undertaken by the industry.
All responses will be treated on a strictly confidential basis.

Best wishes,

Chris Cassley, Rob Squires, David Smith
Construction Plant-hire Association [email protected]

Vertikal Comment

While raising concerns and potential risk points, such as this is usually a good thing, this one is a little disingenuous as the crane would be moving as would the pedestrian, so the forward view would constantly be changing, and the hook block only hides a slim area of view, as to a lesser extent do the front window pillars in a vehicle.

Freddie is also only 50 or 60mm wide at most, and in the test appears to be rotated slightly, which probably reduces the visible area a little. Most children are wider than this, and when running take up even more space. And there are likely to be more than one.

The post seems to suggest that an incident has actually occurred, but the reference is either hypothetical or if a real case the prosecution was for driving with obscured vision. This comes across like a 'jobsworth' looking for additional things that they might catch people for, no matter how low the risk or unlikely an incident would be.

Once again it is good to flag such potential issues and seek input and feedback, but not in this manner which seems to be more about 'booking' someone, than being concerned about real safety and traffic issues.