On-Board Safety

Posted in Trucker Lifestyle by Brian ·  

Every truck driver wants to be able to do their job and do it without having accidents. There is a lot that you can learn about safety at truck driving schools, but when you’re on the road, you can’t control the other drivers. Some truck drivers are turning to on-board safety systems to help them with safety issues.

One of the more recent additions, which was made available in 2002, that many truck fleets and some drivers are adding to their rigs is a Lane Departure Warning (LDW) system. This technology uses “Machine Vision” to track whether a vehicle is drifting too close to the other lanes on the road. If they do drift, whether from being distracted or dozing off, the unit will emit a sound from either speaker – left or right – that will enable the driver to straighten their rig up.

This technology is able to detect lane markings in both day and night driving, even if the markings are faded. LDW also works in most weather conditions as long as it can detect the lane markers. The technology, based on the trucks that had equipped it at the end of 2006, showed a significant decrease, up to 85%, in the number of run-off-road and rollover crashes.

Another technology addition many trucks on the road have is the vehicle back-up system. The system has a high-resolution camera that is mounted to the back of the truck, either on the trailer or on the license plate frame. It can’t be knocked off because it’s stealth-mounted and can be adjusted to meet the range of vision you need. The monitor is 3.5” wide and is located in the cab so you can see to back up without having someone to tell you whether is safe or not.

What about being able to see better at night to reduce the chances of collisions? You can also get a nighttime camera to detect subtle differences in temperature which will allow you to see more than five times further than with normal truck headlights. Since the technology in these cameras was developed for law enforcement and the military, you know it’ll deliver.  The camera weighs in at just a little over four ounces, and can be affixed to the grill. The monitor flips down from the dash and makes detecting potential hazards in darkness possible for nearly every driver.

Obviously, there are many other products on the market that can help truck drivers with on-board safety. Technology is changing so rapidly that not only are more products being made, but much more affordable for truck drivers all over the country. If safety is a concern for you, having on-board technology available makes driving safer for you and those you share the road with.

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