How do you make commercial trucks safer and reduce truck accidents?
Train truck drivers to practice good driving habits, and equip trucks with advanced safety features that can help override driver error.
Commercial truck companies are buying into safety technology as a profit driver, because the more accidents these systems prevent, the more money carriers make by fulfilling their deliveries as scheduled, and avoiding loss-leaders such as costly truck repairs.
So what are some of the most innovative advanced safety features on commercial trucks, and how are they helping keep the roads safer?
3 SAFETY SYSTEMS THAT CAN REDUCE THE NUMBER OF TRUCK ACCIDENTS
As truck safety technology continues to improve, there have been some new systems that have emerged as leaders in the field, including:
- Dual Facing Cameras – Dual facing cameras record the interior of a truck’s cab as well as traffic. They help truck carriers monitor the behavior of their drivers, and provide real-time views of traffic. These cameras have become part of a driver training review process that helps carriers improve the conduct of their drivers, making the roads safer. Because the cameras record all events, they can also help investigators reconstruct an accident.
- Forward Collision Avoidance – This crash avoidance system uses sensors and radar to alert drivers when their truck is about to collide with a vehicle in front of them. In the event that the truck driver is unable to respond in time, the system automatically triggers the brakes to avoid a collision or lessen its impact. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimated that forward collision avoidance could lower the number of deaths and injuries resulting from rear-end crashes by as much as 60 percent.
- Speed Limiters – Speed limiters are devices that restrict a commercial truck to a pre-set speed limit. They are the subject of intense debate because some truck carriers believe that trucks with speed limiters would travel slower than highway traffic, creating speed differentials that could cause more crashes. But some carriers have already installed limiters in their fleets, and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has proposed mandatory speed limiters be installed in all commercial trucks that weigh more than 26,000 pounds. That proposal is stalled in Congress until at least 2018.
TECHNOLOGY IS NOT A MAGIC WAND
There’s no doubt that safety technology can help prevent truck accidents, but the truth is that driver attention is a more important than any technological device for road safety. When commercial truck drivers fail to adhere to traffic laws because of exhaustion, speeding or any other driver error, accidents occur. If you’ve been involved in a wreck caused by a commercial truck driver, you need the expertise of an experienced team like Miller, Kory, Rowe to help you get the compensation you deserve. Call us today at to discuss your case.