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| S P E C I A L | Wheels |
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Radar technology could help avoid truck accidents
August 17, 1998
The Eaton VORAD system
Web posted at: 11:39 p.m. EDT (0339 GMT)From Detroit Bureau Chief Ed Garsten
MARSHALL, Michigan (CNN) -- Tangle with a big rig, and it's likely you'll lose.
According to the federal government, more than 5,000 people died in accidents involving trucks between 1994 and 1996, about 3,000 more than in the first four years of the decade.
Often, accidents involving trucks are caused by drivers of passenger, not commercial, vehicles. One truck driver says that many drivers either drive in a truck's considerable blind spot or simply don't give rig drivers enough room to slow down safely.
"Typically, at 55 mph on a good, dry pavement (in) good weather, it's going to take you more than a football field just to stop in a panic stop," said Don Willcutt of the Michigan Truck Safety Commission.
The system warns against vehicles in a truck driver's blind spot Enter VORAD and SmartCruise, a pair of collision avoidance systems made by Eaton Automotive. Both use radar technology in an attempt to help car drivers and truck drivers avoid each other.
VORAD is a radar system that can alert drivers -- as much as three seconds in advance -- to the potential hazards that are the root cause of accidents, like stopped or slow-moving vehicles ahead, cars following too closely, and vehicles traveling in a truck's blind spot. The system alerts the truck driver through audible alarms.
SmartCruise uses patented radar technology to allow an equipped vehicle to automatically establish and maintain an appropriate following distance behind other vehicles while in cruise control. When no lead vehicle is present, the system operates like normal cruise control.
It can be configured with audible and visual alerts to warn the driver when the vehicle is getting too close to slower traffic ahead, exceeding the ability of the system to decelerate safely.
"SmartCruise allows the driver to maintain a steady following distance to other vehicles, so he can maintain himself between two and four seconds behind other vehicles," said Don Purtill, vice president of Eaton Corp.
According to the federal government, nine out of every 10 accidents involve driver error. Often, the driver isn't aware of a hazardous situation until it's too late.
While the government isn't ready to mandate the use of systems like VORAD, it says accidents could be cut by 50 percent through their use.
VORAD and SmartCruise together cost about $3,000, which is a considerable expense for an owner of a large fleet of trucks. But one owner says it is money worth paying.
"Anything I could do to save lives ..." said Dale Kass of D&M Transportation.
