The impact of heavy trucks on a bridge substructure can lead to progressive collapse of the bridge superstructure, and to disastrous accidents. This type of load should therefore be taken into consideration, especially in the design of motorway bridges. For some structural arrangements, vehicle impact is the decisive loading for the design of the bridge substructure. This paper presents verification of the detailed procedures given by European standard EN 1991-1-7 for bridge pier impact load - dynamic analysis, which is compared with the outcomes from a detailed finite-element model (FEM) of a truck impact prepared using AUTODYN software. A nonlinear material model of concrete with damage and strain-rate effect is used to assess the impact performance of a bridge pier. The paper further presents the results of a numerical study focused on the influence of different types of bridge pier reinforcement arrangement on their resistance to vehicle impact. The performance of various types of reinforcement is analysed and compared. Practical recommendations are drawn for the design of bridge piers which can be subjected to vehicle impacts in an urban environment.