An electronic backseat driver? Not!
By Timothy Brady
Driver and vehicle stats have been monitored, recorded and downloaded from trucks for over two decades. These devices include trip recorders, engine controls, on-board computers, wireless communications equipment, RADAR collision warning devices and video event cameras. The information derived from the use of this equipment helps improve driver safety, diagnose problems, create efficiency in trucking operations and reduce operating costs. In the past several posts I’ve covered the details of different technologies available or on the horizon in many of these areas. In this final post on the subject I’ll discuss safety technologies both current and on the drawing board.
Trip Recorders–Black Boxes:
There has been a tremendous interest in developing ‘black box’ technology similar to what has been in commercial aircraft for years. The day is ebbing ever closer when this will become reality. Since the late nineties, Class 8 trucks have been equipped with onboard computers that allow a diesel technician to connect a laptop computer to the Engine Control Module (ECM) on the truck. From this, the technician ascertains how the engine has been treated: if the engine temperature has been too high, or too low, if the engine has been over-revved. The current move is to have onboard recorders track everything from critical safety systems to drivers’ onboard activities. This could include passive driver’s logs where an onboard system does all the required log entries for a driver, even determining driver fatigue. The future holds a time when this and other information will be available for everyone from the owner of the truck to law enforcement to accident investigators and insurance adjusters. The bottom line on black boxes is that the majority of the required technology is already available. The big question for lawmakers, regulators and the courts is where the personal privacy line will be drawn.
In-Vehicle Video Recording:
A company in San Diego has developed an in-vehicle video recording device that keeps track of the driver’s behavior and the activities of the vehicles and objects he comes across in his travels. This has become a great tool in seeing improper driving behavior from the vehicle’s operator, creating the opportunity to correct the problem before it becomes an accident. It’s also used in defensive driving instruction. The vehicle is equipped with a forward-facing windshield camera and an interior, rear-facing camera. Together, the camera unit records 10 seconds before a triggering event and 10 seconds after the triggering event. The unit’s sensitivity can be calibrated through its software. The criteria for this is based on the type of operation: a passenger-carrying operation would need to be far more sensitive than a construction dump truck.
Collision Warning Systems:
This radar-activated device warns the driver of the vehicle that he is approaching an object too fast. It indicates there’s a vehicle in a blind spot; thus avoiding a lane change with catastrophic results. Properly installed, it can avoid the many backing accidents involving tractor-trailers. By providing this real-time information to the driver, one company claimed a 75% reduction in front-end accidents once the device was installed in half of its fleet.
Fatigue Detection Devices:
With over 30% of all commercial truck accidents reportedly being caused by driver fatigue, this technology has become a hot property. With everyone from the FMCSA to Public Citizen and Parents against Tired Truckers (PATT) chiming in on this one, it’s an area where there are a number of companies working at a feverish pace to develop the necessary technology to address driver fatigue. The plan is to develop a system capable of measuring a driver’s drowsiness behind the wheel.
With all that has come down the pike in the last two decades; with all the mobile technology available today, in development for tomorrow, and devices that are still in the minds of toddlers, the most important questions you must ask are:
- Will it work at a price I can afford?
- Will it increase safety, thus reduce insurance costs and injury and damage claims?
- Will it create more efficiency, thus improving my bottom line?
- Will my drivers and other employees have a reasonably short learning curve to operate this new technology?
And even though all the new technology is becoming available, the one component that must not be ignored is the truck driver. No matter how magnificent the equipment, the trucker is the most important part of the equation. Without a top-quality, well-trained trucker, the best technology is worthless.
Not all technology is good or necessary, but the right technology is invaluable.
Good roads and good loads, everyone.
Timothy Brady © 2010
www.timothybrady.com
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