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Tremendous responsibility falls on everyone who operates Class 8 trucks. Safety demands that potential heavy-duty truck operators take courses to ensure proper licensure. Not just anyone can drive a Class 8 truck with expertise. But even among seasoned operators, accidents can occur. Autocar engineers its heavy-duty vocational Class 8 trucks from the ground up to assist operators in being safe.
In a perfect world, Class 8 truck operators would have no accidents and nothing to distract their driving. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration cited a study that indicated 71 percent of large-truck crashes happened because the driver was doing something other than driving.
Autocar’s Three Safety Principles for Class 8 Trucks
Autocar understands that safety starts before the driver hits the road. Autocar President James Johnson said, “A safe work truck starts with a visionary design process that considers three key elements: the truck’s application, environment and operator.
Fleet managers must keep these three elements in mind at all times; they provide the foundation for proper safety protocols.
Practical Safety Protocols for Class 8 Trucks
So, what can operators of Class 8 trucks do to prioritize safety? First, they can seek to eliminate distractions inside the cab. Perhaps the simplest and most straightforward safety protocol should be to restrict cell phone usage while operating a Class 8 truck. However, if banning cell phones is not possible, provide drivers with headsets or genuine hands-free technology, like voice activation for alternatives.
Dispatching devices can also remove an operator’s focus from the road. As a result, anything the operator does, in addition to operating the truck, has the potential to endanger the operator, not to mention other motorists.
In addition, driver assistance technology also makes driving safer. Johnson commented, “Autocar just recently became the first severe-duty cabover engine OEM to release a suite of Advanced Driver-Assistance System (ADAS) technology.”
“ADAS” is an acronym for Advanced Driver Assist System. It serves as a blanket term for a variety of detection systems, including:
Some of the other safety features in many of Autocar’s Class 8 trucks include:
How Autocar Innovates Safety for Class 8 Trucks
Technology can work in a Class 8 truck operator’s favor if it is implemented well. But, as Johnson noted, “no amount of safety technology will make a truck safer if the operator’s tool requires more attention to technology than to operation.”
Autocar builds trucks with integrated safety technology. We engineer trucks so the right technology can be integrated into each truck. We seek to protect operators and communities.
Contact us to learn how we can help you protect your operators and communities better.
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