The safety of staff, assets and the wider public is the number one priority in the freight and commercial vehicles sector. This is not only because of the human cost of accidents, but also makes financial sense for companies. The cost of replacing drivers, repairing trucks and compensating clients is substantial and reducing these is a priority for the industry. This objective has been greatly helped by ITS. Through better sharing of information and technological aids to monitor vehicles and drivers’ behaviours, it is now possible to catch a large number of potential incidents before they occur.
ITS offers substantial benefits ranging from reduced costs to lives saved by averting accidents. Technology development continues in an attempt to reach a “Vision Zero” goal – where no lives are needlessly lost as a result of collisions and incidents involving commercial freight vehicles.
Worldwide, nearly 3,400 people die on the roads every day, with tens of millions of people being injured and disabled according to the World Health Organisation. In Europe, which has some of the safest roads, there were approximately 40,000 deaths as a result of road traffic accidents in 2007 and 2008. In the United Kingdom, although HGVs only account for 4% of traffic, they are involved in over 45% of all collisions with cyclists. In the United States between 4,000 and 5,000 people have been killed by trucking accidents every year since 2002, and 6.5% of truck accidents result in open flames. ITS in-vehicle safety devices help protect pedestrians and cyclists, whilst emergency response teams benefit from better information about vehicles, their location and cargoes.
Everybody has an interest in reducing the number of incidents, collisions, injuries and fatalities on the road. Specific bodies have particular interests – such as national health and safety bodies, insurance companies (who offer lower premiums to companies with better safety records), safety lobby groups, road users and operators. This includes:
Safety solutions (delivered through an application of intelligent transport systems) can usefully be considered in three different groups:
Many countries have very strict vehicle safety standards. Vehicle manufacturers design to these. Sometimes there are further legal requirements (such as reversing alarms or fire extinguishers), especially when carrying Hazardous loads. Operators also choose to add other safety measures, such as extra lighting or reflective strips. ITS has recently enabled a switch from these passive systems to more active detection of problems and advisory mitigation measures. Examples include cameras to help with reversing and blind spots; cyclist detection systems down the nearside of turning HGVs; load sensors to detect dangerous temperatures or movements to alert the driver and emergency response vehicles. (See On-Board Monitoring and Telematics)
The main issues with regard to the implementation of ITS safety solutions are the same in established and emerging economies. It is a question of looking at the legal requirements, and if the decision is taken to go beyond these, then how much expense can the company spend on safety? This is complicated by the high financial costs of not investing if accidents occur. For lorries operating internationally, it is important to ensure compatibility with the different legal regulations and standards.
For emerging economies there are also issues relating to the durability of systems in different climatic conditions - as well as the availability of parts and trained maintenance personnel. Smaller organisational and operating changes - such as daily checks, improving owner accountability and adopting international best practice in truck safety achieve far more in improving truck safety than technology (cameras or sensors) on its own.
Freight and commercial drivers are controlled and regulated in many countries through testing and driver licensing to ensure a basic level of competence. Thereafter, law enforcement agencies monitor traffic offences such as speeding, running red lights and careless or dangerous driving. Traffic law violations result in fines or even custodial sentences in more serious cases. Many countries including the EU, US, Australia and Malaysia also operate a “demerit” system whereby penalty points are added or taken away from a driver’s licence depending on the penalty tariff for the system and the offence. Losing or accumulating enough penalty points in a given period can result in a driver’s licence being suspended or revoked. The offender may have to reapply for a licence after a period of suspension - which may also include retaking a driving test.
Some companies are turning to technology to constantly monitor their drivers’ behaviour to ensure that they drive safely and efficiently. Critical safety factors involving the commercial driver include hours of service, lane keeping, steering and pedal inputs, safety belt usage, following distance, turn signal use, and harsh braking and hard steering events can be tracked through software. Computers monitor driving style in terms of harsh braking, acceleration, gear changes and engine revolutions. This allows the company to review each driver’s data and to train them to improve the driving style, so increasing safety and saving costs through better fuel consumption and less vehicle wear and tear. (See On-board Monitoring and Telematics)
The safety significance is substantial given that 57% of fatal truck accidents in the USA are attributed to driver fatigue whilst 70% of American drivers report driving whilst fatigued. In America, it is estimated that 1,500 deaths and 100,000 crashes a year are caused by drivers (of all vehicles) with a diminished vigilance level.
A number of vehicle manufacturers are currently developing or trialling the use of fatigue detection software in lorries (such as Volvo). This technology is also provided by 3rd parties. Having learnt a driver’s driving habits, the software is able to determine if his/her driving is affected by fatigue and to offer an audible warning. Other software approaches involve cameras tracking eye and head movements to detect fatigue. These have been trialled by Caterpillar in the mining sector and by a number of bus companies involved in pan-European travel.
Safety Information Exchange (SIE) is the electronic exchanging of safety data and related credentials between operators and law enforcement. (See Credential Checking and e-Manifest)This information can be used for road safety enforcement and fleet logistics planning by providing a database of information on the vehicles using a given route or road corridor and carrying hazardous freight. (See On-board Monitoring and Telematics)
This database is particularly useful for road safety enforcement since it enables a focus on higher-risk vehicles or operators. Vehicles of operators without suitable credentials or up-to-date safety information can be located for example by ANPR cameras to trigger their interception.
In the event of an incident involving the transport of hazardous materials, the safety of the driver and any emergency responders - and the containment of any substances escaped from the vehicle - is of primary importance. It is often mandatory for vehicles to carry certain safety items depending on the type of substance being transported. These can include fire extinguishers, drain covers and respirators. Vehicles must also carry a document detailing the substance, its effect on the environment and how to deal with a spill or leak. This is known as a Materials Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) and its purpose is to inform emergency responders on how to deal with an incident. MSDS’s are used throughout the European Union and North America. Drivers should be trained in handling the substance that they are carrying and what to do in the event of an emergency. The availability of these documents online can enable easy access by the emergency services at short notice if required.
In many countries there is a requirement on operators who are moving vehicles and/or loads that exceed standard dimensions (abnormal loads) to pre-notify police, highway and bridge authorities. The process varies between countries but may involve millions of notifications to be sent every year, often by fax. This time consuming process is increasingly being replaced by electronic systems that simplify notification of abnormal load movements. For example in the UK, ESDAL (Electronic Service Delivery for Abnormal Loads) is run by the Highways Agency. ESDAL’s innovative mapping system, allows hauliers to plot their planned route, obtain full details of all the organisations they need to notify and provide notifications that are fully compliant. ESDAL allows hauliers to make an appraisal of the route to assess its suitability for their vehicle. Police, road and bridge authorities can use ESDAL to manage incoming notifications from operators and make their own assessment of a routes suitability. Additional functionality in ESDAL allows infrastructure owners to input data on limiting features (such as road widths, bridge heights and permitted lorry weights) and enables the police and highway authorities to add other con¬straints such as temporary road works. Interestingly ESDAL does not require any specialist software; it only requires a PC with inter-net access. More information (and the gateway to the system) can be found at http://www.highways.gov.uk/specialist-information/abnormal-loads/