E&MU: Compensating for Errors

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uppliers of safety technology are offering fleet managers new and maturing products for their vehicles, designed to watch over and aid driver performance or compensate for human error.

Electronic systems that warn drivers to take corrective action or that actually intervene with the motion of the vehicle to prevent a catastrophic accident are attracting new buyers.

Other managers, however, remain hesitant about adopting safety technology. High cost and concern about how drivers would react to camera-based lane guidance, radar-based collision avoidance and computer-controlled rollover stability are most often cited as barriers.

“We’ve seen enough accidents in the past year to want to look at technologies,” said John Plote, maintenance director for Stagecoach Cartage & Distribution, El Paso, Texas. “We had a driver fall asleep and the truck left the road and rolled over. We thought some kind of alert would help prevent it from happening again.”

For the full story, see the September/October issue of Equipment & Maintenance Update, a supplement to the Sept. 6 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.

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