Think Safety
Radar may not be on your shopping list, but windows, steps and handles should be.
"Everybody says they're interested in safety, but not many of them are willing to open their wallets."
That's one truck builder's take on the extent of commitment to accident-prevention equipment.
Tom Berg
Equipment Editor
When asked about safety, every truck owner says he's interested in doing everything possible to avoid accidents because he'd look foolish if he said he's not. But he's not likely to order specialized safety equipment - especially the various electronic collision-avoidance devices that are now on the market. Indeed, manufacturers tell us that only a small minority of trucks are built with such stuff.
That's both understandable and regrettable, especially to purchasers of midrange trucks. They are famously frugal to begin with, because to many of them, trucks are a necessary evil - something needed to get products made and then delivered to market. They'll buy bare-bones vehicles and expect them to do a trouble-free job. Electronic devices are seen as way too expensive and complex to ever be worth their cost, no matter how earnestly their manufacturers argue to the contrary.
Proximity sensors and forward-looking radar can tell the driver if vehicles and other objects are getting close, and he can either stop doing what he was doing, like moving into another lane, or simply hit the brakes.
Closed-circuit camera systems show the driver what's happening to his side and what's behind him as he backs up. They've been embraced by many trash-hauling fleets, but by few others.
Preventing just one collision - even a fender-bender - can pay for a set of such devices, and you'd think that trucks that habitually operate in heavy traffic would benefit from them. But not many trucks have these things.
Which raises the question: How do you quantify something that doesn't happen?
It's pretty difficult, and folks prefer to not think about such possibilities. That's why most safety equipment in wide use today - from seat belts to anti-lock braking systems - had to be mandated by the government.
Make it the law and everybody will have to buy it.
Take anti-lock braking systems, for example. ABS began reducing the number of accidents for fleets that voluntarily bought it even before the government mandates of the mid-1990s.
One fleet said work at its in-house body shop began getting slack because its drivers were simply having fewer collisions. It got to where the shop had to take in outside business to keep operating.
Offshoots of electronic ABS are automatic traction control, or ATC, which reduces wheel slip, and stability control, which cuts engine power and applies the brakes when the controls sense that the truck is going into a turn too fast. These are low- to moderately priced options with ABS on air-braked vehicles, and at least one builder has made ATC and stability control standard on its passenger vans.
Built-In Basics
High-tech devices use electronic brains, but drivers' natural brains and common sense are the real key to keeping things safe.
Give them well-designed trucks and a knowledge of safety matters, and you can achieve good results. Attitudes are a personnel (and personal) matter, and suffice it to say that regular safety meetings with meaningful content should be part of company routine. Insurance companies are often happy to help by providing training materials and even guest speakers. Ask about them.
As for the truck, let's start with visibility. Being able to see is probably the most basic principle of driving, and fortunately, truck manufacturers today have made it standard equipment.
One can still argue the relative merits of the low-cab-forward truck, with no hood to see over, versus the conventional, which does have a nose with which to contend.
But today's modern midrange conventionals now have steeply sloped hoods that almost disappear from the driver's view.
Big windshields enhance the view to the front and right-front, and that's fine as long as they are kept clean. You can't spec a windshield, but you can check to see how the glass is swept by the wipers and how the A pillars interfere with sight to the corners.
The view to the side is aided by big windows, especially if they have low sills. "Peep" windows in the lower portion of the passenger door gives the driver a glimpse of what's alongside.
The majority of trucks today have wide cabs that allow three-person seating, but builders have compensated by enlarging the windows in the doors.
A few still have comparatively narrow cabs, which put their windows closer to a driver's eyes and gives him a bigger sight picture. <\f>
Mirror design is another issue that builders have given a lot of thought to. Mirrors are big and usually well placed to give good coverage into blind spots. Most include a convex mirror just below the standard flat glass, which of course, widens the driver's view.
The higher the cab, the greater the blind areas, especially to the right. So for such trucks you might consider extra convex mirrors, mounted to the top of the standard mirror's frame and/or on the fenders. Get behind the wheel of any truck and look at what you and your drivers can actually see.
Watch Your Step(s)
Slips and falls account for a major number of injuries and expensive workers' compensation claims, yet many medium-duty trucks seem ill equipped to prevent them. While truck makers have enlarged their steps and improved the placement of handles at the driver's door, it's still a good idea to look at what's standard.
Drivers who climb in and out of trucks all day will become less tired and less prone to mishaps if steps are evenly spaced and the first step is as low to the ground as practical. And where are the handles that the driver must grab as part of the industry-recommended "three-point" entry and egress procedure? Three points means three of his four limbs should be in contact with steps and handles at all times while he's climbing in or out of the cab.
Step design can be compromised if you're spec'ing a truck with "clean" frame rails behind the cab to avoid interference with body mounting. This requires putting fuel tanks, the battery box and other equipment under the cab and beneath the doors. Is there still room for decently designed steps and handles?
Usually the standard complement of steps and handles is less generous at the passenger side because it's assumed that they'll seldom be used. If you regularly send out your trucks with helpers or crews, be sure that everybody has a safe way to get into and out of the cab.
The Truck Body
And what about the truck body? How you expect drivers to climb up and down? They won't have a problem if you spec steps beneath the doors and handles near by. These is easy for the rear of the body, where the underride guard or bumper can double as a mount for horizontally oriented steps, which should also have slip-resistant upper surfaces. A handle on either door sill lets him pull himself up without falling back. And he can ease himself down instead of jumping.
There is less room at side doors, but remember that safety devices can extend beyond the statutory 96- or 102.3-inch width limits. So yes, handles can protrude a bit, though they can get yanked off in a sideswiping accident. You may be surprised how many useful step and handle options are available from body builders. Just ask 'em.
How Low Can It Go?
The lower the truck, the easier it is for anybody to climb in and out. Trucks that stay on streets and highways can sit lower to the pavement, and it's something you might think about from a safety and productivity standpoint. Many builders offer low-profile chassis with special suspensions and smaller wheels and tires. These usually sit six to eight inches lower than a standard chassis, and it'll take only a couple of trips into the cab or body to really understand how much less effort is needed to work with such trucks.
Of course, weight-carrying capacity can be affected, so components must be chosen wisely. For instance, some midrange low-pro specifications include 19.5-inch wheels and tires, and they can't tote as many pounds as 22.5-inchers. But some low-profile tire sizes are about as strong as the classic 11R22.5 tire.
An example is a 255/70R22.5, which sits about four inches lower, and that can make a big difference to the driver toward the end of a work day. It's also four fewer inches for a driver to fall.
You can replace large tires with smaller ones on an existing truck, but that affects gearing. In the above example, seven or eight miles per hour may be knocked off top road speed, and the engine will rev several hundred revolutions per minute faster.
So then the question is, how slow can you go? Such changes are best made while spec'ing a new truck.
