Letters to the editor

Copyright © 2001 FleetWatch magazine and FleetWatch On-Line.

No part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior written permission from the publishers. Views published are not necessarily those of the publishers.
Past Issues

June 2005

SAFETY   

W

 ATCH
Missed opportunity

When FleetWatch visited the Hanover truck show in Germany last year, we noticed that huge accent was placed on issues around safety and the environment. One of DaimlerChrysler's focuses in the safety arena was on the securement of loads in its vans.

'Sidewall rails' and floor hooks to secure strapping were displayed in Sprinters while an innovative little 'working model' (pictured alongside this article) was on display which allowed visitors to push a transparent model 'van' around a track to see the effects of a secured and unsecured load on vehicle stability and performance. The model with the secured 'load' stayed firmly on track while the one with the unsecured load swung all over the place. It was a simple but ingenious way of getting across a vital safety message.

While the local 'Safety of Tour' road show certainly highlighted dramatic improvements in braking, FleetWatch feels that the people from Merc missed a good opportunity to highlight what, in our opinion, is an area which has received scant attention in our market. They touched on it but it needs more than that.

With a lot of excellent research work having already been done in this field by DaimlerChrysler in Germany, we encourage the guys at MBSA to import some of the ideas and transfer them to our local operators. It's just a thought....