Last one for tonight and it's a little training video on YouTube that's been sent to Biglorryblog by Emily Randall at Brigade Electronics the makers of reversing bleepers and cameras as well as some rather clever infra-red night vision aids too! Emily says: "Hi Brian, thought this may be of interest for your blog. We've created a driver training DVD for safe reversing and though It may sound like stating the obvious this was created following high customer demand!" Well for sure some of the things in the video do fall into the 'Grandma and eggs category' but reminders like this are always worthwhile, especially 25% of all HGV accidents involve vehicles reversing...so mind how you go. Perhaps the most obvious (and one that I always try and do) is get out and check it out first....before you back in. Meanwhile, click through here for one more....
Recently in road safety Category
Biglorryblog has spotted a post on its fellow Road Transport Group blogsite Future Fuel Debate about a new patent Jost has filed for an automated fifth wheel. It says:
There's so much attention given to alternative fuels and their virtues of saving the planet (including on this piece of cyber space), but are we not forgetting about what we already have and how we can make small changes to improve fuel consumption.
Look at Jost. The engineering firm that makes fifth wheels. They've filed a patent for an automated fifth wheel that essentially closes the gap between the truck and trailer at high speeds and increases it at low speeds more greater manouvrability in town.
SLOW YOU DOWN BOY! They know how to make you take your foot off the gas in Norfolk and not a speed camera in sight (apart from the dummy one). See you all on Sunday.
Credit: Michael Dunlea/Rex Features
Fed up with this view out of your windscreen? Join me for a bit of escapism as I take you on a whistle-stop tour of some of the world's greatest roads.
What exactly makes a great road? This is an incredibly personal thing, and one man's dream road is another man's nightmare. For instance, to your average Ferrari driver, the Stelvio Pass in Switzerland is about as good as it gets. But those hairpins wouldn't be quite as much fun in a 40-tonner!
Likewise, the M1 isn't every supercar driver's idea of heaven, but if there's no traffic and you're heading home after a week of tramping, it could well be one of your favourites.
In compiling this list I've gone for a complete mix, choosing roads for their scenery, originality, and pure excitement. If you think you could have done a better job, I'd love to hear your choices.
And in no particular order:
No1
US Route 163
Length: 64 miles
Speed limit: 75mph
Year built: 1910
Credit: Chad Ehlers/Stock Connection/Rex Features
You've probably never heard of US Route 163 before, but I'm confident that you'll be familiar with the spectacular scenery it passes through. This 64-mile stretch of two-lane road crosses the Arizona/Utah border, and takes in some of the craziest rock formations on the planet.
The highlight of any journey down this road has to be Monument Valley. This cluster of iconic sandstone buttes is instantly recognisable thanks to its starring role in countless movies, including The Eiger Sanction, Easy Rider, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Stagecoach.
It was also the backdrop for the 1950s Marlboro Man (who incidentally died from lung cancer) marketing campaign. Motorists are allowed to take their own vehicles into the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, where there is mile upon mile of poorly maintained dirt tracks. The going is incredibly rough - which is just what rental cars were made for!
No2
Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road
Length: 353 miles
Speed limit: 16mph fully-laden, 37mph unladen (strictly enforced by radar)
Year built: 1982
Credit: Canadian Press/Rex Features
In Canada's Northwest Territories, ice roads are a vital link to the remote mines. And during the winter months, convoys of trucks carry essential supplies to the remote mining communities on these temporary roads.
The most famous ice road is the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road, which is normally operational throughout February and March (weather permitting). Nearly 90% of the 353-mile road travels directly over frozen lakes. In 2007, some 10,922 truck loads were carried on the road, carrying 331,000 tonnes of goods.
In 2007 the road was featured on The History Channel series called Ice Road Truckers,
but the mining company felt that the road was portrayed in a negative fashion, so soon introduced a ban on commercial, media, video or rolling film cameras either inside or attached to the outside of vehicle. The show moved to the Tuktoyaktuk Winter Road.
No3
The Great Silk Road
Length: 4000 miles
Speed limit: various
Year built: 1000BC
Credit: Andrew Aiken/Rex Features
The Silk Road (or Silk Routes) is an extensive interconnected network of trade routes across the Asian continent, connecting East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean world, as well as North and Northeast Africa and Europe.
The 4000-mile route was originally set up not only for the transportation of silk and other fine fabrics, but also to move spices, medicines jewels and slaves. Because of the vast distances, few people actually travelled along the entire route, instead carrying goods from one market town to the next in a relay fashion.
The most famous westerner to do the entire route was Marco Polo. If you want to follow in his footsteps, but don't have time to do the entire 4000-mile journey, I'm told the section through Morocco's High Atlas Mountains (pictured) is particularly beautiful.
Continue reading The 10 greatest roads in the world.
Now here's a thought. According to those jolly folk at Volvo: "The truck of the future will have a digital co-driver on board. A virtual guardian angel that assists - or even takes over - if the driver loses control." I've got news for Volvo, I've got one already on the mighty Multipla... Only she's very real and packs a real wallop should I fail to pay attention to her... I refer of course to the chamring Mrs 'Watch what you're doing/You're not listening to a word I've said/What did I just say?' Biglorryblog. But I digress.
Weekends, accidents, bad weather or road-works - we all know what cuases traffic jams. But did you know that where there are queues, there's also a higher risk of accidents. Indeed, a survey by the European Truck Accident Causation Study shows that 47% of all truck accidents take place in what are described as 'monotonous situations' such as traffic jams, with vehicles travelling in the same direction, or in stressful situations such as crossroads and road-works. However,technology is now being developed to help ensure that this type of accident becomes less frequent and click through here to find out how...
Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear...err...three-point seatbelt, happy etc, etc.....Yes this year marks 50 years since Volvo first introduced the three-point safety belt - an invention that has saved more lives in traffic than any other technical feature. And before you ask The world's first vehicle with a three-point safety belt fitted as standard was a Volvo PV544 delivered in
"Following its invention, Volvo immediately gave free use of its patent to all manufacturers and today the safety belt is a natural feature in virtually all trucks and cars. That is why we can say that there is a bit of Volvo in every vehicle on the road - irrespective of make and model," Volvo Trucks' traffic and product safety director, Carl Johan Almqvist tells me....and click through here for more..
Did you know, says Biglorryblog (and not a
lot of people know this) that this week coming is National Bike Week? You didn't? Well I do because CEMEX UK, the building materials provider, is advising cyclists on how to stay safe around its trucks as part of events run throughout the country for NBW. And opver the next seven days a CEMEX ready-mixed concrete lorry or aggregates tipper, with a range of safety features aimed at vulnerable road users such as cyclists, wil be on display in York, Bristol, Cambridge and Manchester---which makes sound sense to BLB. Indeed, visitors to the events will be able to go into the cab of the vehicle to see the area of visibility around the vehicle and learn from the driver about ways to ensure their own safety. And not before time either! Anyroadup click through here to see what else CEMEX is doing to keep other road users safe.
Browsing through YouTube kooking for something that Road Rat sent me I found this series of Volvo video clips showing various crash tests---but also a (by now) quite famous roll-over test on a tipper where the dummy driver has a seatbelt on and his passenger doesn't....you can see what the outcome is. But here's a clever pie quiz for you. Of the two people in the cab which one was killed?
It's obviously one of those times when Biglorryblog has plenty of 'Public Information' announcements---and here's a good example! If you're an artic operator why not take advantage of the free 10-point fifth wheel safety check being offered by JOST-GB at its HQ in Heywood, Lancashire. Technical director Dave Deri tells BLB: "With safety very much at the forefront of operators' minds today, our Stay Safe With JOST campaign has been created to encompass our existing and new safety-related initiatives ranging from training and technical advice through to our fifth wheel safety wall chart and the JOST 'Guide to Safe Coupling and Uncoupling' -- which has so far been reprinted three times!" Deri adds "The most common problems we see occurring are purely down to a lack of maintenance, with fifth wheels all too often regarded as 'fit and forget' items, which is simply not the case. Maintained properly, a fifth wheel will give years of trouble-free service." Under the scheme each fifth wheel will be evaluated using a 'traffic light' system, where green = satisfactory, amber = advisory, and red = urgent attention required. The free inspection is open to all operators visiting JOST-GB's premises on the Heywood Distribution Park. However, a visiting service is also available although a small charge is made to cover expenses. To book a safety check, just call JOST on 0161 763 0225.
Who could of thought that a hole in the road could have such a obvious effect on slowing down the traffic---better than speed humps! After a long absence Biglorryblog is delighted to welcome back Ashley 'The Crane King' Coghill. "Hi mate, "he says in the engaging chirpy way of his..."My mate in Canada sent me this. Superb idea! And apparently it is in use over there....and he says it works a treat. Keep on truckin' ASH"
And why wouldn't you slow down? You wouldn't want to put a wheel down in these holes--it would shake your fillings out...but there's more to these holes than meets the eye as you'll see if you click through here....
Now here's a good example of a company 'putting its money where its mouth is' and I'm grateful to Volvo Trucks North America's PR wallah Jim McNamara for sending it to me. Smart fleet managers have always known that safety pays he tells me. Now the payoff from safety will be $50,000, thanks to the 'Volvo Trucks Safety Award'. In this bold initiative, VTNA will award $25,000 each to two fleets with the best driving records in 2008. The money is awarded to help fund additional safety activities at the winning fleets.
"Safety is Volvo Trucks' bedrock value, Scott Kress, senior vice president for sales & marketing tells Biglorryblog. "It's been our number one priority since the very founding of Volvo more than 80 years ago and it guides virtually all product decisions we make. Many of our customers share this passion and invest their time and resources to achieve safe operations in their fleets. The Volvo Trucks Safety Award is a way to recognize fleets with truly superior safety programs and records, and to encourage others to emulate them." And what a cracking idea--and incentive. It should be launched over here too says BLB! Now click through here for a weblink to the rules and entry forms...
Not for the first time Biglorryblog seems to have been asleep at the back of the coach when the press pack was given out. For its taken the recent e-mail and information from Jim McNamara---Volvo Trucks North America's PR Wallah---to alert yours truly to the vehicle above. What is it? Where have you been er...Duh? It's the wonderful Volvo Integrated Safety Truck, an artic with more safety devices fitted to it than you can shake a risk assessment manual at...And thanks to Nigel Hanwell that Towering Titan of Volvo's UK truck PR department I now know a hell of a lot more about it than I did 24 hours ago....For instance did you know (and not alot of people know this) that the ITS has the following bits of safety kit?
-
Adaptive driver-vehicle interface (AIDE concept), Integrated mobiltephone via bluetooth.
- Voice control of multimedia devices
- Driver awareness support Longitudinal support
· Forward Collision Warning
· Collision mitigation (when crash is unavoidable full braking is autonomously applied to mitigate or avoid the consequences of a crash)
· Curve speed warning (with help of "previewing" of map data)
· Take-off inhibit to avoid pedestrian accidents at take-off situations (e.g. running over a pedestrian at a crossings due to blind spot in front of the truck)
That's not all, for under the heading of 'lateral support' there's also
· Lane departure
· Active lane keeping support
· With help of active steering - a small vibration and small corrective torque is applied to the steering wheel [this is a new one on BLB]
· Lane change support
· Lane change support with haptic feedback(in the steering wheel) and correction torque
· Blind spot surveillance
Safety services
· Safety Channel, Dynamic information on road, traffic and weather
Not bad and maybe one day they'll let BLB have a go in it---I'd certainly like to try out the 'Active lane keeping' device.....
Never mind this dummy, word reaches Biglorryblog of the latest research from the ABI (Association of British Insurers) which exposes for the first time the scale and the cost of the UK's whiplash epidemic. Every day, nearly 1,200 people claim for whiplash following a motor collision. This figure has risen by a quarter in the last five years, and is six times the number of workplace injury claims made each year. To stem the tide, the ABI has joined forces with motoring and road safety groups to set out a programme for action.
The ABI report, 'Tackling Whiplash: Prevention, Care, Compensation', highlights that:
- Over 430,000 people claimed for whiplash in 2007, up by a quarter in the last five years. These claims cost nearly £2 billion a year in compensation.
- Treating whiplash injuries now costs the NHS approximately £8 million a year in consultation fees.
- That the UK is the whiplash capital of Europe: 75% of motor personal injury claims are for whiplash, compared to an average of 40% throughout the rest of Europe.
- And that many drivers and passengers are at risk: 75% of drivers are unaware how head restraints should be correctly positioned.
Reasons for the rise in whiplash include: motorists tailgating the car in front, and incorrectly adjusted head restraints. In many cases recovery is inhibited by the slow legal process, leading to delays in rehabilitation. Now click through here for more...
Continue reading Whiplash injuries... There's an epidemic of them says Biglorryblog....
Just yesterday Biglorryblog posted a blog all about Scania's new blindspot mirror retrofit programme and no doubt many promptly responded by saying; "That's all very well BLB but I run Volvos!". Well it certainly prompted that 'Towering Titan of Truck PR' at Volvo, i.e. Nigel Hanwell to admonish me and send me this information for operators of the 'other' Swedish truck marque..."Hi Brian, further to your blog on Scania mirror compliance, I would refer you to this Volvo Vision page.
Nigel goes on to say: "Note that Volvo Trucks have promoted this since Oct 13th. It's all explained on the attached handy leaflet or download a .pdf from the website above. We even offer a handy tool to check the curvature of existing mirrors - although you can use the cut away section of downloadable leaflet to do the same. See attached 'how to' guide."
And here it is in action.....now click through here for an appalling pun that only Nigel would have the nerve to deliver...
Anything Volvo can do, Mercedes can do better…and without rubber cars too. Biglorryblog’s chum Nick Smith at Mercedes-Benz has sent me this short video clip showing the German truck maker’s ‘Active Brake Assist’ working on an Actros. Like the Volvo collision avoidance system it uses forward-looking radar to detect a stationary object in the truck’s path and if the driver takes no action it automatically applies the service brakes to avoid him running into the back of it.
What doesn’t come across in the video is that the Actros driver is actually doing nothing! I am told by my moles in Milton Keynes that it was travelling at 56mph. As you approach the line of traffic the system initially starts to shift down through the gears, it then sends an audible warning to the driver and if he doesn’t do anything it then slaps everything on. Judging by this impressive video clip… it does the job!
Yesterday I picked up a lot of grief from 'Road Rat' who felt that while he was tipping at Purfleet at 7:00am this morning I'd be tucked up in my little wooden bed...yeh right. In fact 30 minutes later I was standing getting soaking wet at Ashford Truckstop while various equally-wet members of VOSA and the Highways Agency handed out free fresnel lenses to rather surprised (and dry) foreign truck drivers sitting in their cabs minding their own business. This bloke is Hungarian and is pointing out to the HA officer that the description of how to fit it is in Polish, French, Spanish, English and German... but not Hungarian. nevertheless he was most grateful.
It was a typical DfT press event--everybody wandering around not knowing quite what to do while sheets of rain blew up my trouser leg. And the first question the HA and VOSA people asked the drivers was: "DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH?" Anyway here's a picture of the fresnel lens fitted to the side window of a Croatian Daf that was parked up. 
The free fresnel handout is an extension of the pilot scheme which saw 40,000 of the little devils handed out to left-hookers entering the UK. And they work by magnifying the deadly blindspot which on foreign trucks is on the front offside when a car gets level with the stepwell of an artic, which then moves to the right and Kerrrrunch...'. As the trial was so successful---the DfT says that there's been a 59% reduction in side swipe accidents involving foreign wagons---it's handing out another 90,000.
Road safety Minister Jim Fitzpatrick (above) was also getting wet too--to his credit he didn't seem to mind and even managed to keep his cool when a TV reporter demanded to know why drivers weren't being forced to pay for them. In fact he (the reporter) was so grumpy he asked the question twice. And got the same answer. I.e. - Because the cost of accidents involving the hundreds and thousands of left-hooker HGVs currently on our roads every day far outweighs the price of these devices which cost less than £4 each. Hard to question that...
Meanwhile, click through for a few more rain-soaked shots....I bet Road Rat wasn't a drowned rat!
Biglorryblog is hitting the road again. Tomorrow I shall be with Mr Neill Attwaters (Renault's redoubtable demo driver specialist--and it's Neill to two lls!) driving this rather nice Magnum 500 6x2. I've had a quick go already doing the MIRA track test stuff but this Wednesday and Thursday it's off to Scotland (and back). So if you see the Commercial Motor test trailer with a white Magnum in front it'll be me and Neill. I'll let you know how we get on shortly.
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Truck of the Year
Biglorryblog editor Brian Weatherley is the UK jury member for the International Truck of the Year award