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A new report by Wards Intelligence provides some very interesting data on truck accidents, and tries to get below the surface to understand the reasons why such accidents are trending upward. Wards’ 2018 Commercial Vehicle Safety Report, “Who, Where & Why of Truck Safety Performance,” takes great pains to find the most up-to-date public and proprietary data sources to try to form a picture of the factors that caused truck-accident related fatalities to continue to increase after briefly decreasing in 2016.

Earlier this month our PRECO team went to India to showcase at this year’s International Mining & Machinery Exhibition (IMME). The exhibition is a four-day event held at the New Town Eco Park in Kolkata, India, with over 300 exhibitors, 6,000-plus business visitors, and over 11 countries representing including Australia, China, and Italy.

In recognition of innovation, dedication and best practices, we are now accepting nominations for the eighth annual Excellence in Safety Award. Recognizing the outstanding achievements of safety professionals each year, the Excellence in Safety Award honors those who educate, support, and take action to improve safety on and off the worksite.

PRECO Electronics® has been designing and manufacturing short range radar sensors since 2001.  Extensive testing of these sensors is required to validate operation.  Older versions of the PreView® Radar sensors had a short detection range (<10 meters) and the PRECO engineering team has been able to do much of the performance testing on an indoor test range.  The latest generation of PreView® sensors, such as the Sentry™, have a much longer detection range of 30 meters, necessitating a different testing area.

It’s no secret that in order to be successful, a company requires two things: a healthy bottom line and a clean safety record. As technology improves and data tracking becomes easier, safety and savings can go hand in hand.

IAA Exceeded PRECO’s Expectations 

In its 67^th year, the IAA Commercial Vehicle show has become one of the world’s largest events, with 2,174 exhibitors from 48 different countries and over 250,000 visitors throughout the show. Presenting the future of commercial vehicles and mobility, IAA exhibitors approached the industry’s top issues and introduced the latest and greatest innovations - showcasing the future of transportation, logistics and mobility.

For decades, fleets have considered the staggering cost of collisions as unavoidable as death and taxes. These days, as new technologies alert drivers to potential collisions—and, increasingly, take complete control of the vehicle to avoid the collision altogether—fleet owners may well be wondering if there will come a day when collision costs become marginal.

The occurrence of accidents happening with equipment whose radar based object detection systems have been disabled are on the rise. Though many workers and operators feel they can rely on passive equipment like camera/monitor combos and mirrors to guide them on a worksite active systems, like PRECO’s PreView® Radar technology, is the only viable way for an operator to be truly aware of their surroundings.

Many fleet managers like the idea of upgrading the safety technology on their fleet. The problem is they feel there is no time to install new technology. Few managers have the luxury of pulling a truck out of service to retrofit it with new gear. If you’re a big shop with a 24/7 garage, it’s less of a problem, but if you’re running an 8-hour garage schedule, it’s hard to fit in any non-essential work. With some foresight and planning though, many fleet managers may find that there is actually ample time to make these upgrades.

 Anytime large vehicles occupy the same space as pedestrians and bicyclists, bad things can happen. When a fatality occurs, it is usually because an individual falls into the exposed space along the sides of high-clearance trucks and get crushed beneath the rear wheels. On construction and mining sites, companies are able to limit the interactions between people and trucks. On the average road or city street, though, such control is virtually impossible. The combination of truck blind spots and distracted driving, walking, and even bicycling is a recipe for disaster. For decades, many countries have had ordinances in place that require large vehicles to be equipped with side guards covering this open space along the sides of vehicles. Only in the last few years have these ordinances started to appear in cities across the U.S., but there is growing momentum.