Seen on the Health & Safety Executive website:

The HSE is investigating an incident on Wednesday 20 September 2006 in which Richard Hammond, presenter of BBC TV’s Top Gear programme, was injured when the jet-powered dragster he was driving overturned at the former RAF airfield at Elvington, near York.

I recently heard a story about the tragic death of a van driver – who was killed after having a head-on collision with a tree. It was a clear day, the driver wasn’t on his mobile phone and he didn’t fall asleep at the wheel. How then did the accident happen?
Well it didn’t take long for the crash investigators to work out the cause of the accident – having found an atlas wedged between the driver’s crushed chest and the steering wheel. He was simply trying to find his way to his next drop, and was in too much of a rush to pull over to check the map. Unfortunately it’s an all too familiar story.
Of course there is a solution, and it’s called satellite navigation. And with this in mind I applaud Citroen for making the Trafficmaster Smartnav sat nav system standard in all new Relay panel vans. As far as I’m aware this is a first in the LCV world, but hopefully not a last. The sooner other van manufacturers follow suit the better.

Prices for New Relay, which claims to have class-leading load dimensions, start at £15,150.

Mercedes-Benz has super-sized its Sprinter, giving the largest 3.5-tonner in the range a whopping great 17cu m load volume. But having just had one on test at Motor Transport I can’t help but wonder how good an idea this actually is.

Ever wondered what happens to the contents of a van when it crashes? Well, if I have successfully managed to upload these two videos onto YouTube (which is doubtful considering my appalling technical knowledge) then this is your chance.
They were filmed at TRL last week, and depict a van crashing at 30mph. Although there is a bulkhead fitted, it doesn’t withstand the force of the cargo. If this had been a real driver he would have been badly injured or even killed.
The crash test was part of a major FTA research project into the safe loading of vans, and you can read all about it in next week’s Motor Transport.

A view from the inside

Exterior view – check out the non-pedestrian-friendly copper pipes on the roof.

The FTA was right today to call on the telematics industry to develop “truck friendly satellite navigation systems. The problem is that systems developed for cars are not only useless but actually dangerous when used in heavy commercial vehicles. Until recently there have been no electronic maps with weight, height and width restrictions. Using a car system in a truck is dangerous because it is likely that the vehicle will be taken on a route where it will either be stuck or the driver will ignore a restriction.
The problem is that truck drivers are buying their own car satellite tracking system and using them on trucks. Some companies, such as Christian Salvesen, have sacked drivers after hitting bridges while using these car systems systems.
Mapping suitable for trucks is just being introduced. Meanwhile operators should ban car style satellite navigation systems from heavy truck cabs.
For more information on safety, read the details of the Motor Transport debate, in conjunction with Fraikin, with leading operators talking about truck safety.

Why is it that so many truck drivers refuse to wear seat belts, and so many haulage companies have to work so hard to make them? It is very difficult to understand. A driver sits the most of the day in front of a huge sheet of glass and usually with another truck right in front. In an accident you could go straight through the window and end up seriously injured.
Yes I know that a seat belt can get in the way when you are making a delivery. I can just see that if you are on multi-drop work, it might be a pain to keep on un-fastening your seat belt, but it will be even more of a pain if you have an accident. It is estimated that one in 10 truck drivers use a belt and 130 deaths and serious injuries a year as a result. There is really no excuse. Drivers must belt up.
I know of many haulage and distribution companies that have worked hard to get drivers to use seat belts. But all too often they belt up in the yard but immediately they leave the depot, off comes the belt. They must be mad?
Can any driver or operator tell me why drivers are so adverse to seat belts? And has any operator succeeded in stopping them? Let me know by either commenting on this or e-mailing me at andrew.brown@rbi.co.uk

See more information below about the problem

How big is the problem?

Sideswipes by overseas left-hand-drive trucks are an increasing danger for both car and truck drivers. Hauliers have had vehicles damaged when left-hand-drive trucks pull out without being able to be see properly.
Now the full extent of the problem has emerged after a request under the Freedom of Information Act. The figures show 1,807 accidents involving foreign-left hand-drive trucks in 2005. Of these there were 409 cases involving overseas trucks moving into the right hand lane.
Actually this is an underestimate as the figures only cover accidents on dual carriageway involving at least one car. So it leaves out motorway accidents, which is crazy.
Sideswipes are becoming a significant problem, particularly in the south. The can result in very serious injuries and damage as cars are forced off the road.
The answer is to force overseas drivers to fit adequate mirrors to be able to properly see all other road users around the vehicle. Or they could fit cameras and monitors or even sensors to prevent these accidents. British right hand vehicles travelling on the continent should also have to fit similar equipment.
With an ever increasing number of left hand drive trucks on the roads, the Department for Transport needs to step in to ensure that they have sufficient vision around the truck to be able to drive safely.

FTA comment

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Every day when driving to work, the traffic reports always mention a broken-down truck blocking a motorway or a truck that has crashed. Today a jack-knifed truck caused a queue of 17 miles.
What I cannot understand is why so many heavy commercial vehicles break down every day. There are only 420,000 trucks on the road, compared to 28 million cars. Each heavy truck has to be checked every six weeks. And yet they always seem to breakdown during the rush hour.
Of course we only hear about trucks because they cause such chaos when they do fail. But cars rarely break down, so why trucks do are so frequently mentioned every morning. After all diesel engines are simpler than diesel.
I have never come across any statistics on this. The truck manufacturers must have them because they usually have to send out a recovery vehicle. But they probably don’t want to let on.
But it is a serious issue as it gives the industry a bad name. Everyone in a queue will be cursing the broken down truck.
The truck manufacturers are keen to tell us how long it takes to recover a stranded vehicle. Instead we need industry figures on how often their vehicles break down. They must know. Maybe we could ask it during the Motor Transport Fleet Truck of the Year judging.
Of course a jack-knifed truck is not a break down but an accident. But these days it is easily avoidable. Every truck should now be fitted with ESP (or similar) that makes roll-overs and jack-knifes a thing of the past. It should be standard equipment.

Let me know if you know why so many trucks break down.

Will it, or won’t it spill?

There was a particularly sad story in The Sunday Times about a 56-year-old mother who died after being involved in an accident with a cement mixer. The story said that the driver was only fined £300 and allowed to keep his licence. It is difficult to know without hearing the case whether this was a light fine or not.
But the case does highlight how trucks and bicycles do not mix well, particularly with the increasingly busy roads. Ideally bicycles should have their own lanes, separated from the road. But councils do not seem keen on this; probably because of the cost and the lack of space.
The article said that every year about 150 cyclists are killed or serious injured in London. According to the Sunday Times report “In urban areas about half of cyclists’ deaths are caused by HGVs – most frequently when they turn left. A third more men than women die on the roads, but when women are killed it is most likely to be by HGVs”
The daughter of the 56 -year-old women has now persuaded RMC to fit all their vehicles with sensors (says the article) so that an alarm will sound .if a cyclist is alongside.
It does sound like a good idea to fit these alarms, as long as they work. Maybe they should be fitted as standard.
What do you think? Do such alarms help?

Research into bikes, trucks and accidents

Ask most people to name a problem overwhelming Africa and they will reply:
"Aids." After all Annie Lennox, Bob Geldof, and goodness knows how many other ageing rock stars have taken a media circus with them to highlight the plight of poor communities ravaged by this illness. And it is a problem that world should be aware of and address. But there is another huge killer in Africa, the biggest killer of young men after Aids that hardly anyone talks about - road deaths.

96% of children who die in road accidents die in poor countries. What's more it is predicted that the death toll on the roads will increase in underdeveloped countries by 80% by 2020. Why? Because there will be more people, more vehicles, but just as many holes in the road, just as little driver training and just as little maintenance so that buses and trucks filled with as many as 100 children can career off roads. Think of that. 100 children. 44 died outright. If those children died in a genocidal act there would be an outcry. A white child goes missing in the UK and there are helicopter searches. But 100 students get driven to their deaths by an untrained driver or a decrepit truck and it barely makes the local news in Zambia, let alone anywhere else. Sadly this was not an isolated incident.