On Monday, November 10, the City of Cambridge took a major step towards making transportation safer for bikers as well as pedestrians. The Cambridge City Council voted unanimously in favor of a motion put forth by Councilor Dennis Carlone to take the next step in considering outfitting city vehicles with side guards.

The side guards act as a protective measure in the instance of a collision between a cyclist and the truck and keep the cyclist from being pulled beneath the vehicle.

According to Councilor Carlone’s City Council Blog, “City Manager Richard C. Rossi is requested ‘to work with all relevant City Staff, safety experts, and bicycle and pedestrian advocates to consider the possibility of deploying truck side guards across all city-owned and city-leased trucks.'”

Councilor Carlone introduced the legislation back in September after a cyclist was struck by a garbage truck. Luckily the injuries were non-life threatening but that was enough to inspire the councilor to act preemptively.

At the end of October, Boston became the first city in the nation to adopt such a measure. The Boston City Council also voted unanimously to approve an ordinance filed by Mayor Marty Walsh, along with At-Large Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley and the Boston Cyclists Union, to equip all large city-contracted vehicles with safety side guards.

The Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics had been piloting a program to perfect the side guards for two years prior.