We are preparing an article for CM and wanted your views on the following:
What are your thoughts on the amount of technology drivers are expected to monitor while driving through busy city centre, such as blind-spot cameras, audible warnings, etc? Are they useful to you, or do you find it a distraction from looking at the road?
How do you think vehicle design could eliminate the need for all this additional equipment?
Is driving a modern truck in city centres nowadays easier or more difficult then, say, 10 years ago?
Please reply below, any comments in this thread may be published in the magazine.
It was definitely easier 10 years ago. Most people doing town centre deliveries had fm’ sand p cabs, nice and low etc. Now the trend seems to be bigger trucks with worse vision. I think the cameras are a welcome edition and not much of a distraction. The sat navs are a no no for me in a town centre, I still prefer a proper map in confined areas
1, we’ve already got 6 mirrors, 2 side windows & a windscreen to look at/through, how many more cameras/monitors do we need ?
Audible warnings especially for turning left would be good.
We also need dominate the road more when turning left , not sit in a lane designed for cars.
2, Doesn’t matter how you design a vehicle, you will still get people trying to sneak up the inside, outside, front &
rear.
Bring back Cycling Proficiency Lessons in schools ! (Won’t solve the problems in the short term, but it might help in 10 years time)
3, Driving in city’s is harder now than 10/20 years, lots more people in a lot more of a hurry & dare I say it-London is full to breaking point with Foreigners who mostly drive on the other side of the road, so are not used to our roads.
There is just so much hi tech stuff being added to trucks and believe it or not it is distracting for the driver. This is fact. If a driver has to take his eyes off the road for one second … one second yes it could cause a major incident.
This may sound ridiculous but if they are so adept at making this stuff would it not be better to have a system of sound warning the driver of an idiot cyclist sitting in his blind spot etc.
The DOE in NI have made a safety video of the one second distraction I can’t get the link up here but go have a look. It is scary.
It is many years since I drove through London but would imagine it is a nightmare today.
Rikki-UK:
We are preparing an article for CM and wanted your views on the following:
What are your thoughts on the amount of technology drivers are expected to monitor while driving through busy city centre, such as blind-spot cameras, audible warnings, etc? Are they useful to you, or do you find it a distraction from looking at the road?
How do you think vehicle design could eliminate the need for all this additional equipment?
Is driving a modern truck in city centres nowadays easier or more difficult then, say, 10 years ago?
Please reply below, any comments in this thread may be published in the magazine.
Yes. They remove drivers attention from the road. New mirror designs actually have created their own blindspots. Approaching a roundabout with a car approaching the same roundabout from the right it is now possible for the entire car to be hidden from view by the mirror. I’m quite sure many of your readership have set off from a roundabout entry or junction at the end of a motorway slip road to suddenly find a car they didn’t see because it was obscured by the drivers mirror appearing in front of them.
Passenger door footwell windows like they used to have.
More difficult. Once upon a time people used to exercise personal responsibility. Nowadays pedestrians, cyclists and car drivers seem to drive around with a “my safety is anyones responsibility but my own” attitude. How many times have you seen Youtube videos of motorbikers and cyclists in London putting themselves in danger by the way they ride around lorries and buses? I saw one on Youtube of a box van turning left at a junction and as it was a moped rider who was also wanting to turn left cut down its inside even to the point of having to lean his bike over because he didn’t want to wait for the box van to complete the turn and wanted to be in front of it. And of course if the box van had run the moped over it would’ve been his fault, not the moped riders… The attitude of bikers and cyclists is that it isn’t up to them to adjust their riding, its up to the haulage companies to find a solution to their ■■■■■■■■■■ riding.
With all the extra kit that has to go on on a tipper these days, perhaps the MGW needs to increase to offset the increased tare weight? A 8w steel bodied tipper now tares in almost a tonne heavier than one bought five years ago.
Forgot to add that rear underrun bars on tippers are a PITA. Stones and other debris land on it and then fall off along the road. I know drivers should check for this but the trucks are fitted with auto tailgates so the drivers wont be getting out in a hurry.
Muckaway:
With all the extra kit that has to go on on a tipper these days, perhaps the MGW needs to increase to offset the increased tare weight? A 8w steel bodied tipper now tares in almost a tonne heavier than one bought five years ago.
a typical euro-6 kit weighs in at around 200kg
In one of those silly comparative arguments; it could be said that if all anti-pollution gizmos were removed from all the trucks on the road, their could be around 3,500 less artics on the road.
500,000 (lorries) x 200kg (anti-pollution kit) / 29 (tonne payload)
Muckaway:
With all the extra kit that has to go on on a tipper these days, perhaps the MGW needs to increase to offset the increased tare weight? A 8w steel bodied tipper now tares in almost a tonne heavier than one bought five years ago.
a typical euro-6 kit weighs in at around 200kg
In one of those silly comparative arguments; it could be said that if all anti-pollution gizmos were removed from all the trucks on the road, their could be around 3,500 less artics on the road.
500,000 (lorries) x 200kg (anti-pollution kit) / 29 (tonne payload)
And when someone decides we need Euro, another 200kg will be added. Someone needs to come up with a back to basics truck with all the silly add ons removed.
Muckaway:
With all the extra kit that has to go on on a tipper these days, perhaps the MGW needs to increase to offset the increased tare weight? A 8w steel bodied tipper now tares in almost a tonne heavier than one bought five years ago.
I can’t remember the reasons, but why were all rigids increases by 2 ton a few years back?
I have cameras all round ,I do not use them mirrors far better and may I say the old type mirror were better than new convex type.I am in my own truck all the time so mirrors are set for me to see right down n/s and off side , I see all round when reverse camera is on. I do not like left turn warning it goes every time I indicate it does not tell me anything I can not see in mirror.I will not have frensel lens a cycle could be missed around edge of lens. Mirrors I think were better when they were like a coach you look through the windscreen this leaves side view out of passenger door window clear .Why do trucks have marker boards cycle warning signs ect and cycles need nothing despite the being small and may blend in with background …hope this helps
sat navs should be banned for hgv drivers there a clear distraction that end up in disaster many a time as a driver blindly follows one. i can not believe you can get such a stiff penalty for using a mobile phone whilst driving yet sat navs seem to be ok
if a driver can not get around without a sat nav then really he shouldn’t be behind the wheel of a truck. we got around them ok before they were invented and i dont see the need for them now at all for hgv drivers as there dangerous
Too right Pete. Bloody technology eh? I assume that once you’ve finished doing your hand washing of your clothing and cooked your dinner over an open fire then you and your family will gather around the piano by candlelight and have a good old sing song?
Microlise and other systems in conjunction with this relentless pursuit of fuel economy bring definite distractions. Keep an eye on the speedo, keep an eye on the green rev band, whilst keeping eyes on numerous mirrors at the same time.
Hopefully you will still have a spare eye on the sat nav, and will not miss your junction.
Hang on, why have I slowed down? That will be the adaptive cruise control. What’s that sudden intrusive noise? That will be the lane departure warning.
Woah! Why has the truck braked harshly all of a sudden? Probably because that car moved into the lane in front of me. But I could see that the car was travelling quicker than me and was indicating to move in front of me!!
The situation was all under control until the all seeing eye took over.
IN MY VIEW THE TECHNOLOGY IS NOW BECOMING A MAJOR DISTRACTION AND IS A COMPLETE HINDERANCE TO A PROFESSIONAL DRIVER.
the maoster:
Too right Pete. Bloody technology eh? I assume that once you’ve finished doing your hand washing of your clothing and cooked your dinner over an open fire then you and your family will gather around the piano by candlelight and have a good old sing song?
He’ll come back and read that after surfing some ■■■■ mate!
Pete - It’s not the Prat-Nav’s fault, it’s the bellend that’s following it blindly!
the maoster:
Too right Pete. Bloody technology eh? I assume that once you’ve finished doing your hand washing of your clothing and cooked your dinner over an open fire then you and your family will gather around the piano by candlelight and have a good old sing song?
He’ll come back and read that after surfing some ■■■■ mate!
Pete - It’s not the Prat-Nav’s fault, it’s the bellend that’s following it blindly!
the bell end that needs a sat nav is indeed a bell end in my book.
the defence by so called drivers is alarming !!! its like there saying they can not do the job without one ?
you will be telling me next, that to change gear in a manual is a distraction for the poor driver
the maoster:
Too right Pete. Bloody technology eh? I assume that once you’ve finished doing your hand washing of your clothing and cooked your dinner over an open fire then you and your family will gather around the piano by candlelight and have a good old sing song?
He’ll come back and read that after surfing some ■■■■ mate!
Pete - It’s not the Prat-Nav’s fault, it’s the bellend that’s following it blindly!
He comes from a time when ■■■■ was one of those old through the keyhole or what the butler saw, black and white silent movies.
Also for dizzypetes benefit. You stick your sat nav to the window. You don’t hold it to your ear.
Is it safer to drive in a city centre without a sat nav but a bloody great truckers atlas on your lap? I can remember often struggling steering while my Philips navigator was held up on the steering wheel.
eagerbeaver:
Microlise and other systems in conjunction with this relentless pursuit of fuel economy bring definite distractions. Keep an eye on the speedo, keep an eye on the green rev band, whilst keeping eyes on numerous mirrors at the same time.
Hopefully you will still have a spare eye on the sat nav, and will not miss your junction.
Hang on, why have I slowed down? That will be the adaptive cruise control. What’s that sudden intrusive noise? That will be the lane departure warning.
Woah! Why has the truck braked harshly all of a sudden? Probably because that car moved into the lane in front of me. But I could see that the car was travelling quicker than me and was indicating to move in front of me!!
The situation was all under control until the all seeing eye took over.
IN MY VIEW THE TECHNOLOGY IS NOW BECOMING A MAJOR DISTRACTION AND IS A COMPLETE HINDERANCE TO A PROFESSIONAL DRIVER.
a big +1
Steering will take over next when the sensor ‘sees’ danger, probably drive up a tree.
