A jury at Dublin City Coroner's Court yesterday recommended that additional mirrors and sensors be mandatory to help eliminate driver blind spots in large vehicles.
It also recommended more Garda awareness campaigns to educate road users on the dangers of driver blind spots.
Coroner Brian Farrell will now contact the Department of Transport, the Road Haulage Association and the Society of the Irish Motor Industry to inform them of the jury's recommendations.
"I strongly recommend the provision of these safety items in the interest of public safety.
"I appeal to pedestrians and cyclists to be aware that large vehicles have front and side blind spots, and I also encourage drivers to be aware."
Dr Farrell also outlined an EU directive that will come into Irish law on January 26th, 2007, requiring all new heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) to meet revised standards that extend to the driver's field of vision.
The jury's recommendations arose following an inquest into the death of an 80-year-old man who was hit and killed by an articulated lorry when crossing the road at Sarsfield Quay in Dublin's city centre last year.
Eight similar deaths involving large vehicles hitting cyclists or pedestrians who were not visible to them have occurred in the past two years in the Dublin area, Garda Edward Davin, a forensic investigator, told the court.
This is despite a Garda awareness campaign in conjunction with the National Safety Council to educate road users on the blind spots drivers of large vehicles can encounter.
"Not everyone has been reached by this campaign in relation to blind spots."
The jury returned a verdict of "accidental death" in the case of William Keating from Ballyfermot, Dublin, who was killed when struck by an articulated lorry on June 1st, 2005. He died from his injuries on the same day in St James's Hospital.
"We recommend mandatory regulatory implementation of Garda advice in relation to front- facing Cyclops mirrors and sensors on the front of these types of vehicles to prevent blind spots," a juror told the court.
Gardaí gave evidence yesterday that Cyclops mirrors and sensors, which alert drivers if something comes too close to their vehicle, would greatly help eliminate driver blind spots.
Garda John Flood, of Dublin Castle, said the driver of the lorry would have had a blind spot of about three feet to the front and side of his vehicle.
According to a witness statement from Stephen Curtin, who was not in court, Mr Keating had begun to make his way across the road through the heavy traffic when the lights were red.
When the lights changed, the traffic moved and Mr Keating, who had just moved in front of a lorry, was hit. The driver, however, seemed unaware.
Piotr Szczepaniec, a Polish lorry driver whose vehicle hit Mr Keating, said he did not know he had hit someone until another lorry sounding a horn alerted him to stop.