I still maintain that having basic knowledge of mechanics is a vital part of any training, looking for various warning signs can save a lot of problems later on . For example noticing oil around a wheel can mean that a oil seal is leaking onto the brakes result; oil on brake linings reduced braking , it is no good looking round a moter when you dont know what to look for. Another point is that modern brake linings and this is something I am not alone in noticing seem to have a tendancy to glaze compaired with the old type ( asbestos based ) wether this is due to modern brake anti lock systems or the lining compound I cant say. I can say though that if preparing a moter for MOT and replacing the linings prior to going for test unless the drum is replaced at the same time you can struggle to get decent results on the rollers. With the old type linings as long as the drum was seviceable and the linings "ruffed up " you had a better chance of a pass. Idealy you got to change linings a month or couple of weeks prior to test by then they had bedded in and better results seem to obtained.
Old lorry, or new lorry, unless you have a grasp of what can go wrong, and have lot of respect for the road and conditions. Anything can, and will go wrong.
Cheers Dave.
norfolk:
I still maintain that having basic knowledge of mechanics is a vital part of any training, looking for various warning signs can save a lot of problems later on . For example noticing oil around a wheel can mean that a oil seal is leaking onto the brakes result; oil on brake linings reduced braking , it is no good looking round a moter when you dont know what to look for. Another point is that modern brake linings and this is something I am not alone in noticing seem to have a tendancy to glaze compaired with the old type ( asbestos based ) wether this is due to modern brake anti lock systems or the lining compound I cant say. I can say though that if preparing a moter for MOT and replacing the linings prior to going for test unless the drum is replaced at the same time you can struggle to get decent results on the rollers. With the old type linings as long as the drum was seviceable and the linings "ruffed up " you had a better chance of a pass. Idealy you got to change linings a month or couple of weeks prior to test by then they had bedded in and better results seem to obtained.
Drum/disc wear is all about linings/pads grade.The fact is soft linings/pads won’t stand up to a lot of heat especially with the loss of asbestos.While harder compound linings/pads eat drums and discs.While glazing is historically a pointer to working on the margins of their heat tolerance.Considering a driver training regime based on avoidance of engine braking and linings/pad materials obviously needing to reflect all that it wouldn’t be surprising that discs/drums turn into virtually as much of a consumable as pads/linings.
Carryfast:
norfolk:
I still maintain that having basic knowledge of mechanics is a vital part of any training, looking for various warning signs can save a lot of problems later on . For example noticing oil around a wheel can mean that a oil seal is leaking onto the brakes result; oil on brake linings reduced braking , it is no good looking round a moter when you dont know what to look for. Another point is that modern brake linings and this is something I am not alone in noticing seem to have a tendancy to glaze compaired with the old type ( asbestos based ) wether this is due to modern brake anti lock systems or the lining compound I cant say. I can say though that if preparing a moter for MOT and replacing the linings prior to going for test unless the drum is replaced at the same time you can struggle to get decent results on the rollers. With the old type linings as long as the drum was seviceable and the linings "ruffed up " you had a better chance of a pass. Idealy you got to change linings a month or couple of weeks prior to test by then they had bedded in and better results seem to obtained.Drum/disc wear is all about linings/pads grade.The fact is soft linings/pads won’t stand up to a lot of heat especially with the loss of asbestos.While harder compound linings/pads eat drums and discs.While glazing is historically a pointer to working on the margins of their heat tolerance.Considering a driver training regime based on avoidance of engine braking and linings/pad materials obviously needing to reflect all that it wouldn’t be surprising that discs/drums turn into virtually as much of a consumable as pads/linings.
Interesting point CF.
I moved from trucking/lorries to parcel delivery. Had Mercedes 307/308, but settled on Ford because the dealer was in Barrow, rather than West Yorkshire.
I would put a van in for replacement linings, but the dealer would say, the drums are cracked.
‘Can you skim them?’ No.
My thoughts were, ‘so what? Put a new set of linings on it’.
At that point I cannot do anything except buy new hubs. If anything happens I’ve lost my life and my home.
Experience told me that cracks in the hubs were - not unimportant - but unlikely to cause an accident.
However, I bought the hubs every time, so, as Ed Balls says, I had the receipts!
John.
A couple of weeks ago I had to make a journey to visit a customer and at about 06.30 am I was following a 64 plate DAF artic belonging to Howden Joinery. I followed it all the way from Mottram Cutting to Chapletown over Woodhead. I was very impressed by the skill and professionalism of that driver; his (or her) driving was exemplary, and I was the first vehicle (car) behind the artic. The speed, positioning and everything else was perfect for the route in the dark and frosty morning. On the downhill stretches of road the brake lights came on very intermittantly, yet the speed was maintained at a constant, steady, and careful rate. Here was a modern truck with all the latest gizmos being driven in the correct, some would say “old fashioned” way. I didn’t attempt to overtake at any stage, although the car behind me did. I was content to sit there and observe a true professional lorry driver go about his (or her) business in the way it should be done. A credit to the industry and Howden Joinery.
I’m one of the guilty ones who’s been posting on the main forum in that thread, in reality i’m reading from Carryfasts hymnsheet.
One of the posters above mentioned auto boxes and their ability to ‘‘brake’’ for you, and yes all the ones i’ve driven in the last few years have this facility, which makes a mockery of the simplistic brakes to slow gears to go mantra that’s being taught by driving instructors and endorsed by many of the examples of the box ticker driver assessor/trainers working for some fleets, when the maker is fitting retarding devices and the pupils are being discouraged if anything from using, bonkers? you bet.
Incidentally i’ve never been admonished for overriding the auto box nor for using gears/exhauster to do most of the braking, but then most assessments have been with somewhat older school companies, be interesting to do the same at some of the other sort and see the smacked arse face of the assessor.
I’ve had an MAN with ZF auto box for the last 2 and a bit years from new, like all of these semi autos (Volvo excepted which is as good as they come), and some of the other autos have manual programmed out to stop drivers driving them, i’d hand it back if they issued me one, i drive the thing loaded always in manual override, empty depends on where, two fold reasons, one because it help maintain normal progress (the standard programming is not great IMO) and improves fuel economy, but also so i can control the exhaust braking.
Some of us still take a pleasure, or maybe a bit of old fashioned pride, in barely having to use the brakes except to bring the lorry to a final halt, i suspect those of us who do this are in danger of going the way of the dodo though from what i see out there.
In full auto mode if you lift your foot of the throttle and press the button (more than you could shake a bloody stick at) on the inner part of the RH steering column stalk, it will start auto exhauster braking, the vehicle will downshift for you and keep the exhauster going, but its not anywhere near as efficient as the driver doing so manually as you might expect.
You can brake during this auto ■■■■■■ function and it will continue operating right up until you either stop or touch the throttle or press the switch again to cancel it…in auto brake it usually drops two gears at a time but the revs will have dropped so low before it triggers that it’s not as good as manual IMO (though better than bugger all), when it drops from say 8th to 6th in auto ■■■■■■ gives you a very violent down step that you wouldn’t probably do manually unless in an emergency…as i say not great programming but better than bugger all and certainly better than steaming merrily down hills in normal auto mode cooking your brakes long before they might be needed should the crap hit the fan.
The ZF box isn’t great for driver manual input (Scania best of the bunch for this especially in MH, fast and responsive to input), if you select manual once on the move it will often revert to auto after about 30 seconds, you have to either select manual at rest or wain until into 12th, then it will stay in manual.
As for lorries in general, with every new model i hate the things more and more, we’re now into electric parking brakes and adaptive (predictive next?) radar cruise control which will brake the vehicle should you get too close (some licence holders do need that it must be said), some apply the parking brake turn off the lights and take it out of gear too when you switch off, with every new thing they get ever nearer to full automation…those poor little loves it must be hell having all that strain and worry of turning the gear switch from D to N 
but should prevent future RSi claims for all those parking brake applications 
…Jesus wept…do you remember when it needed an armful of muscles just to get the sodding wagon rolling out the gate.
Now this may all seem wonderful in Utopia where half the air heads running this country live, but the rest of us know that the real world of lorrying is somewhat different and a drivers skills nous and hands on know where-it-all-is-what-it-does how to use it can mean the difference between a crash or avoidance when the crap hits the fan, so if our new generation of drivers are sitting there like Manny Quinn hiding behind tasselled curtains in their fully automated whatever picking their manicured noses, when an all of a sudden full brake fade ensues because he happens to be bowling nonchalantly down a 1 in 8 hill in top gear because he knows no better and the brakes can never fail, the chances of our auto pilot having the slightest clue whats happening, why, what could have prevented, but most importantly how to mitigate it, have all but vanished.
No doubt the next stage will be, and its already in regarding cruise/economy, automated terrain control where GPS tells the lorry its about to descend a steep hill and the lorry will then do what we would have done automatically due to use and the (luckily for me and others) proper training some of us received, combined with the learning we did in the bad old days of simpler motors that needed to be driven and didn’t stop on a ha’penny…more crap to go wrong and be maintained if you can find someone capable.
I’m not against sensible progress a such, yes brakes are miles better than the old things we had, we no longer have to nip round a trailer with a 9/16ths to bring the slack adusters up, and fade is further away than it once was, but we have lulled our new drivers, the general public, and more alarmingly those responsible for legislation and training into a false sense of security, things do go wrong, things wear, air lines break, valves seize, diaphragms split, and when it happens you’re a bloody sight better off with a cool set of remaining brakes because you’ve driving the lorry like a lorry, than you are with an already overheated and now drastically reduced braking capacity because you’ve been driving like a car.
We have forgotten, in this rush to computerise, exactly what lorries are and used for, they are an industrial tool used in harsh environments and subject to frequent damage in some hands, they are not an executive toy, they are not a large car.
Yes give me back a proper gearbox and a Jacob brake, please…i dread it that i’ll end my driving days as steering wheel attendant.
An excellent post that every inexperienced driver, driver-trainer, driving instructor, driver assessor, VOSA official and truck designer should read and digest. (Have I missed anyone out?)
I first became aware of people’s driving standards changing a few years ago when a now deceased friend of mine took me out in his then new BMW saloon. This was a guy who was then in his fifties, we set off down a country lane doing around 50 mph (faster than I would be doing!) and in the distance a Transit van was approaching. I knew that there wasn’t room for both vehicles, however my friend just swerved the car up onto the grass verge and never decreased speed at all, despite my trying to put my foot through his floor! Clods of earth covered the screen, yet on we went. I stopped shaking and mentioned that he wouldn’t have done that in the Anglia that I used to service for him in the '70’s, he replied that " this thing has airbags, abs, doors three inches thick so no harm is going to come to the occupants so stop worrying" and he honestly thought that he was immortal in that Beemer! I guess that folk now rely too much on technology and when that lets them down, as it will, have no back up plan to get them out of trouble?
I have seen trucks on the M1 going through the roadworks in Derbyshire/South Yorkshire literally a metre or two from the one in front, on one journey last year there was a BRITISH fridge truck practically touching the back bumper of a car travelling at just below the 50 mph limit through the works and sounding his horn repeatedly, then cutting right across me to get into the nearside lane so that I had to either brake to let him in or get crushed against the concrete barrier! That wasn’t the only instance in a twenty mile journey and I was glad when I could leave the motorway as it honestly scared me more than anything did when I was truck driving.
Pete.
I cannot think of any other situation in life where such a diversity of skills, competence, incompetence, experience or lack of, knowledge, stupidity, arrogance and aggressive behaviour, coupled with a vast range of vehicle types and sizes, of varying standards of maintenance, or lack of, are thrown together on our roads in the everyday thing we do called driving. The wonder is that there isn’t more mayhem every day.
IMO, Its not the wagons, Its some of the drivers that are very unfriendly, Ive noticed the stupid behaviour of some of them lately I sometimes wonder how they ever got a job in haulage, Ive noticed how close they drive to the one in front, Total numpteys in my book Im pleased to be out of it now, In fact even driving my car I keep well clear of this sought that drive in this stupid way,Like you say its this behaviour that causes mayhem on our roads,Where will it all end I wonder, Regards Larry.
Juddian:
I’m one of the guilty ones who’s been posting on the main forum in that thread,
The really scary thing about ‘that’ topic is that instead of the expected thanks for the good advice contained within it provided by those of us who know better,there seems to be either apathy or plain hostility.
As for those who think that age and progression from light to heavy based on same is more important than good training and advice from day 1.In terms of slowing and stopping it is that 18 tonner 4 wheeler,that at max weight,effectively has the same/similar service braking capacity as loading a 6 axle artic to 54t gross or an 8 wheeler to 36t would have.All combined with the doctrine of brakes to slow gears to go.The only real surprise in that case being how few ‘issues’ there actually seem to be.With those risks being worse as gross weights and axle numbers decrease from that 6 axle 44t gross type best case. 
Firstly Juddian excelent post , someone who has taken the trouble to learn what his moter is capeable of instead of pressing drive and going. Here are a couple more of what I consider " Driver Unfriendly " ideas Ive come across. Drove a MAN on lowloader work , Double drive so you would expect it to perform well traction wise on sites but no dispite have diff locks ect it used to get stuck on a regular basis. It had auto traction control so as a result as soon as the wheels lost traction it shut the power off and you were left trying to set off at 80t gross on tickover. Trying to set off on a wet road on any thing other than level entailed putting it in crawler and waiting until you got level before even attempting a gear change. We complained to the agents and even had the Foreman mechanic drive the moter in the vain hope he could show us what we were doing wrong, but it beat him, tried to get it disconnected/ overidden but to no avail. It spoilt was otherwise for our job a good moter. Scania 620 Heavy haul double drive the Handbrake wouldnt hold it on hills when loaded because when the handbrake was applied the trailor brakes wernt leaving you trying to hold the whole outfit on the unit brakes alone this however was sorted by Scania who altered the brake system so the trailor was braked as well when the handbrake was applied . The veh had been bought new for the purpose of Heavy Haul including bigger fifth wheel pin coupling so why should you have to complain before the veh is fit for the purpose it was bought ?
That’s interesting about the TC causing you problems Norfolk, the bulk (ho ho) of our work is blower tanks, so our tractors are all fitted with small non steer mid lifts to keep tare weight down.
We do some drops with no problems at all and we do one or two really awkward ones (though nothing like the situations you encounter), one in particular is a blind side reverse up a hill into an even steeper entrance, some can’t get in at all backwards due to this and some even go the wrong way up the one way street for an own side back in, something i and other older ones are not doing, it’s in a bad area anyway and anything goes wrong they’ll throw the book at you and claimsRus will have a field day.
Anyway, same as you mention, wheel slips even a fraction TC cuts in the power dies, then the idiot automatic clutch has to do its thing again, rinse and repeat, we’ve already had one clutch destroyed there.
Ours are fitted with a standard ASR button (instead of TC button found on the Scanias), press that and ‘‘off road’’ comes up on the dash, TC is cut and now it will let the wheels spin if needed (double drive not so fitted?)…next and believe it or not some of our drivers even the not so young ones haven’t a clue what any of this nor cancelling TC does nor why you would do it, if you press the weight transfer button, the air in the tag axle is dumped, and after about 20 seconds it will lift clean off the deck…no problems then getting in apart from having to juggle the idiot auto clutch engagement to do the reverse as gently as possible.
Modern lorries arn’t driver friendly at all now when it comes to things out of the ordinary, not meant to be driven at all (though you’d think a double drive heavy would be somewhat more old school), designed around someone attending the wheel and selecting D), few years ago i got stuck on a flat road in half an inch of packed snow with an MAN, couldn’t do a bloody thing with it 
, after about 10 minutes rocking it gradually further out the auto gearbox from hell overheated and then shut down, had to wait 1/2 an hour for it to come back to life…where’s the face palm smiley?
One week later i’m in 6 to 8" of snow with a manual and hated for reasons i still can’t fathom Merc Axor, which simply refused to get stuck anywhere and reversing a double decker tandem up a hill into a deep snowed in yard provided not one single slip, once the mid lifter was up she went straight in…old school design that, a very underrated working lorry which would be high on my list if i was daft/clever enough to buy my own.
One thing i do like about the MANs DAFs is the parking brake working on the trailer, when tipping tanks our loads shift at times and it can be quite unnerving being at the back with a Scania attached when the tank moves 6" and the rear support legs jump on the concrete when 10 ton suddenly drops, i usually apply the trailer parking brake the odd time i have a Scanny, saves my old ticker a few frights… 
As for vehicles not being correctly designed for purpose, isn’t it the age old problem of those doing the buying/specifying/design would never dream of asking those doing the job for input, hence one size fits all computer says no you will have this spec etc etc, everything seems to be one fleet spec these days, presumably the one that makes most profit for the maker, course they must have the auto box cos that ensures the thing will be too expensive to fix when the time comes so another new lease it is…
By the way and you might find this amusing, anyone been down to the Towcester roundabout A43/A5 recently, major road works and its bloody narrow there for two lanes, going south on A43 its virtually impossible for a lorry and car to go side by side safely at the roundabout, having said that i and another artic were overtaken just before and close enough to polish the arse of my tank on the roundabout itself by a loaded low loader last week at around 6.00am still dark, still don’t know how he managed it…after all that and then charging off on his mission cos us old ■■■■■ had taken 5 seconds from his day, he’s pulled up in one of the Silverstone layby’s couple of miles down the road …never thought i’d get to the point of actually looking forward to hanging me keys up for the last time.
Cheers all.
Juddian ; The stupid TC on the MAN for us spoilt what was a decent moter for our work, It was robust , stable and plenty of bottom end pull which in our job was exactly what was needed . Good seating position and relaxing to drive it also had the "powershift " option on the 16sp gearbox.Compare this with a 580 Scania we had that you climbed out of with a bad back, the cab wallowed about like the old Ford Transcon, and you had to keep reving to make any progress, that was when it wasnt in limp mode due to stupid electrical probs ( stuck on the fuel pumps at Newport Pagnall for 2 hrs at 80t gross ) The 620 Scania we had after that was better once they stopped bits falling off it, the MAN was actualy a MAN badged ERF believe it or not !
Evening all,
what an excellent thread, and with some really relevant posts, Juddian, John West, Carryfast, gingerfold, Robert, nmm, its obvious that you are all “professionals”, in the true meaning of the word.
So where did it go wrong?
It went wrong, (for me), back in 82, in the garage of a top Dallas Attorneys house, where I had enjoyed a tremendous evenings hospitality, and the conversation had turned to " Litigeous Liability", and I was taken into the said Garage, and shown an Aluminum step ladder with the red lettering on the top step…“Go no further, this is the maximum you can climb”"…Full of Californian “red”, I laughed…but my host was deadly serious when he said…“this is the end of the Law as an arbiter for common sense”…and was he not right■■?
Its come to the UK with a vengeance, H&S has become a farce, but a farce written and enforced by Law!
What has led to this?..well I would say the woeful reduction in educational standards over the last 30 plus years, (and longer if we really examine standards). The culpable lack of personal responsibility, of maintaining a personal standard, of the will to achieve, of personal responsibility…“it aint my fault…its his”…the pervading cry. And that applies to machinery…in our case ,…the lorry.
The jolly old machine “thinks for you”…but it does not!
Manufacturers produce a machine that relates and meets the legislative standards applied in each market that it will have to work. They are the “Law”. The specification will relate to the “maximum average useage”, and in the case of the EU that will be broken down to certain criteria…long distance E routes, short distance non E routes. Then the specification will be finalised to give the optimum minimum emissions, fuel consumption, and to minimise down time, (in line with Legal constraints). No where is the required skill of the “operator”, (driver), given any credence…you, (we, I, ), are a necessary “evil”. The variable, that cannot be legislated for…and therefor the “culpable”…(and Gentlemen, consider this word carefully)… element, in the equation.
That the “Juke Box” transmissions provided by the manufacturers denigrate, and deplete the “operators” skill are I would state without doubt. I see with my own eyes how the lorry driver is reduced to a mere machine minder by these electronic “gizzmoes” each day, when vehicles deliver to my farm. The sheer frustration of good and capable drivers at the manner in which their steeds “take over” is sad to see.
In my own case, whatever I have driven over the last 60 plus years, I have had great pride in producing a seamless progress by use of a manual, (clutch, gear lever, and accelerator), transmission. I have had to accept “remote” Satellite, auto transmission progress in Agriculture…for it is tied to my income payments, (and really do not get me started on that “central control”). Believe me it aint foolproof, and in many, (b…hilarious situations), it leaves one really all at sea!!! Now my car, (because of some decision by some faceless “Engineer”), oh boy, is only available as a (lumpy changing), automatic gearbox machine, and how I hate it!!!
But that is what you now have with lorries…they carry freight…but the skill of Human element is insignificant, (and I personally hate writing that), Lets face it, very few people like lorries in the UK,…and now more so in The European mainland. Television shows like the moronic Top Gear, simply encourage the average person to drive like a brainless idiot, and anything that impedes progress such as a slower vehicle, (a lorry), is to be despised, or written out of the equation…its in MY way…me, me, B… Me…the cry of the 21st Century…B…ME!!!
And what got us here?..Trade Unions that took the subs…and gave nothing back…Trade associations that were the excuse for self congratulatory organised P…Ups, and NEVER promoted the Industry…(.Personally, at least I have the satisfaction of putting my ,(verbal), foot up the rear end of some “noteable” personages in the RHA, whose contribution to “our” industry was less than pragmatic)…Tell me , even in the case of the horrendous tragedy that spawned these threads, why did the Media…(and what a bunch of poorly educated, politically correct, common sense by passed individuals they would seem to be), turn to the Hire and Reward Road Hauliers confirmed “enemy” the Freight Transport Association, the RAC Foundation, and, (sadly Mary, I have to say this), BRAKE, who more than even the RHA , have lost direction in relation to the Road Haulage Industry, for “comments”. Talk about the blind leading the blind!..Where were our “Troops”■■?
So having gone for a detour around the 40 acre field…are modern trucks actually driver unfriendly…Yes.
But the majority of contributors to these threads are consummate professionals…and , it shows,…it shows because that tragedy in Bath is just that…a tragedy, and should the average man, and woman out there on the road not be as skilled as you all are then it would be far more common, and when will some one recognise the fact of just how skilled is the Lorry Driver…Its about time that the rest of the population really has that fact drilled into their , (small), cranium.
Cheerio for now.
Saviem is right: we’ve lost the plot and safety culture has taken on a life of its own. A couple of weeks ago I was standing on the inner edge of an active volcano, in an area so remote we could only access it by trekking with camels, and gazing down into the cauldron of molten lava. The heat was intense and the stench of sulphur stifling. Not surprisingly, the small group with me joked that in UK we would have had to remain on the outer edge, behind high railings wearing gas masks and helmets. Then of course we realised that in UK we wouldn’t be allowed within ten miles of the place. To add insult to injury we remembered that we were in a foreign office ‘red zone’ because someone was kidnapped there some years ago. Of course, I could have played safe and gone to Eastbourne instead - and been burned to death on the pier. I fear the new cottonwool culture will make fools of future generations. Robert
robert1952:
Saviem is right: we’ve lost the plot and safety culture has taken on a life of its own. A couple of weeks ago I was standing on the inner edge of an active volcano, in an area so remote we could only access it by trekking with camels, and gazing down into the cauldron of molten lava. The heat was intense and the stench of sulphur stifling. Not surprisingly, the small group with me joked that in UK we would have had to remain on the outer edge, behind high railings wearing gas masks and helmets. Then of course we realised that in UK we wouldn’t be allowed within ten miles of the place. To add insult to injury we remembered that we were in a foreign office ‘red zone’ because someone was kidnapped there some years ago. Of course, I could have played safe and gone to Eastbourne instead - and been burned to death on the pier. I fear the new cottonwool culture will make fools of future generations. Robert
Well done Robert!
Some of us dwell on our memories (me!). You make new ones.
John
John West:
robert1952:
Saviem is right: we’ve lost the plot and safety culture has taken on a life of its own. A couple of weeks ago I was standing on the inner edge of an active volcano, in an area so remote we could only access it by trekking with camels, and gazing down into the cauldron of molten lava. The heat was intense and the stench of sulphur stifling. Not surprisingly, the small group with me joked that in UK we would have had to remain on the outer edge, behind high railings wearing gas masks and helmets. Then of course we realised that in UK we wouldn’t be allowed within ten miles of the place. To add insult to injury we remembered that we were in a foreign office ‘red zone’ because someone was kidnapped there some years ago. Of course, I could have played safe and gone to Eastbourne instead - and been burned to death on the pier. I fear the new cottonwool culture will make fools of future generations. RobertWell done Robert!
Some of us dwell on our memories (me!). You make new ones.
John
Well John, I’m only a wee lad of 63 so I’m making hay while the sun shines! Pic of volcano below, along with some of the cameleers. One of my favourite tales on this forum was from a driver who was called into the office to be disciplined for walking from his unit to his car without a hi-viz vest at the end of a shift. In his defence he said, ‘If you saw me there is no case to answer for!’ Robert 
Have any of you drivers tried the new new DAF CF that rates your driving performance as a percentage on the screen in front of you as you are driving. Rating you for braking efficiency and anticipation. It is called DPA I believe.
We have it fitted to all our 64 plate units and it is complete nonsense.
You CANNOT USE THE BRAKES at all and encourages you to use the exhaust brake only and changing down the gears accordingly.
The drivers find themselves concentrating on the actual braking and not the situation ahead.
Discuss that then!!!
Funnily enough Stimpy my mate who i’ve worked with and been mates with since 1986 had his first day out in one and i’m only surprised the phone didn’t melt such was the stream of invective that came over the airwaves about the heap.
Apparently its cut down so much as to be dangerous, down to 25 mph on motorway hills, and already showing up low level cat warnings, so it’s looking good for the future.
Hope no one tries to explain to him where he’s going wrong should his dash score be low, they’d better have some ear defenders and hard hat on.
However, i don’t have a problem with using gears and engine braking for slowing down, i do that all the time and try my hardest not to use the brakes at all except to come to a stop.
Its interesting just how often some tackle is going in for relines, and annoying when i come back on shift to see thick black dust round the wheels…let alone itemising the fresh damage which is there without fail.