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Each morning fleets of garbage, recycling, and yard waste trucks travel the streets and alleyways of our communities. When it comes to these trucks, depending on the job, the driver is on the right or left side of the cab. Having to drive on both sides means drivers have to be ambidextrous in their understanding of their trucks' operating from all angles.

PRECO Electronic's PreView Sentry™ has been recognized as one of the Top 100 New Products of 2017 by Construction Equipment.  Selected by the editorial staff, Construction Equipment Top 100 is the longest-running awards program of its kind in the industry and recognizes the most significant new products announced each year. PreView Sentry™ is the only collision avoidance solution recognized among the Top 100 new products.

PRECO Electronics is excited to announce the immediate availability of our expanded vision system offerings.  The new suite of monitors and cameras, including PreView® Monitor 5 HD, PreView® Monitor 5 LD, PreView® Mini Cam, and PreView® Mirror Monitor, provides customers with a wide range of flexibility and the ability to integrate PreView® radar sensors to help mitigate accidents, improve fleet operations, and further assist with blind spot monitoring.

Trucking companies and truck drivers must cope with a variety of working conditions, including variable weather and traffic conditions, boredom, and in-cab distractions. Add the problem of sharing the road with erratic drivers and you have a recipe for a potential tragedy.

The transportation industry logged 279.1 billion miles in 2014 according to American Trucking Associations’, with over 400,000 truck accidents each year. More than 70% of these accidents are the fault of the NON-commercial driver, with only 16% due to the truck driver's fault. These statistics just address incidents with other moving vehicles.

If we think of the economy like the tide, we know that for every flow there is an ebb. Although we can’t predict the size or timing of each ebb and flow, we are better prepared to weather financial ups and downs when we anticipate both and plan accordingly.

When the economy tightens, we might live without some personal luxuries. Maybe we give up dining out, have staycations instead of vacations, and rent movies instead of going to the theater. We might shop for lower-cost services that still provide the necessities to get our must-dos done right. In business, some companies might even go through hiring freezes or discontinue low-selling products or services. Pulling back on expenditures makes sense (and dollars and cents) when the economy ebbs. Except, that is, when it comes to safety.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recently released a new two-year “Most Wanted” wish list for 2017-18 that puts distractions and tired driving at the top of ten pressing safety issues to improve.

NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart said that the list's new two-year cycle will “help to focus our advocacy efforts on sustained progress. We will take stock at the one-year mark, note what progress has been made, and decide what additional improvements are needed.”

At PRECO Electronics, we stand behind our promise, “When safety matters, count on us.” That’s because PRECO’s safety products lead the industry in performance, durability and reliability.

PRECO’s PreView Radar is the most rugged collision mitigation solution on the market—designed to work 100% of the time in the harshest conditions. That promise goes a long way in the heavy-duty industry, where tough work environments and mud, dirt, fog, rain, sludge, and even sun glare are constant challenges.

There is a safety arms race in progress. Advances in collision mitigation technology are being undermined by advances in personal technology that distract heavy-duty operators and people on the ground from noticing potentially dangerous situations.

Who knows what will happen in 2017, but we are hopeful that by the end of the year we will be closer to the time when man and machine are able to ensure every worker makes it home safely. When they do, we might be able to put a stop to—or at least slow down—the safety arms race.

Busy worksites include a dangerous mix of oversized trucks, service trucks, and people on the ground in constant motion trying to meet deadlines. With all of this activity, operators often focus on an immediate danger or maneuvering without realizing a new hazard has entered their blind zone.

The US Department of Labor has reported that 4,386 work fatalities were investigated in 2014, 20.5% of which were in construction-up 6 percent from 2013.  Being struck-by an object was one of the leading causes of these construction worker deaths.  According the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, approximately 75% of struck-by fatalities involved heavy equipment.

Safety in heavy-duty industries has surged ahead in 2016 thanks to new innovations and technologies that have taken collision mitigation to the most advanced level yet. As our understanding of collisions and how to avoid them deepens, this momentum will continue with the goal of saving as many lives as possible.

Recently, we’ve seen higher levels of technological sophistication in the autonomous applications of U.S. Army tactical vehicles. Over the course of the next decade, the Army predicts that assistant drivers will no longer be needed in manned war vehicles, and only a few years beyond that the main driver will also be able to stay behind on missions. Imagine the lives that will be saved on the battlefields.