Arrest the driver or put him to bed? Neither. Arrester beds.

I was reading the other day the news from Greece and was sad to learn about a multi-vehicle crash in one of Greece’s major highways, that resulted in 4 people losing their life and more than 30 injured. The crash involved a heavy vehicle that crashed into a line of cars temporarily stopped at road works, resulting in a huge pileup. According to one of the eye witnesses the heavy vehicle, a prime mover – semi trailer combination, crashed at the vehicles at full speed and “was throwing the cars up in the air, like paper napkins”.

Egnatia odos one of the most modern motorways in Greece, and part of the Trans-European Networks, has a relatively good safety record, especially compared to the rest of the Greek motorway and highway system that is quite notorious for the level of fatalities. The driver, a Romanian national, driving a truck registered in Romania that transited through Greece, claimed that the truck’s braking systems failed and was driving without any breaks for more than 20 kms.

Just  a few days later, another similar type of crash, involving this time a truck and dog trailer combination occurred on one of Athens’s motorways. Again in a similar situation, the truck crashed into a number of cars ahead of it, ending up on top of the median concrete barrier. The driver claimed that the truck’s brakes failed and he drove on the median on purpose, so as to avoid crashing directly on the cars.

The investigations on both accidents will finally reveal the cause of the crash. Usually in most cases like these, more than one factor contributes to the unfortunate events. Road works traffic management, vehicle maintenance and compliance enforcement, use of seat-belts and availability of passive road safety features in cars are among the parameters that are examined. 

Driver fatigue is one of the factors that have a direct link to crashes especially with heavy vehicles where drivers are behind the wheel usually for more than 12 hours per day. There are a lot of ways to understand when you are experiencing driver's fatigue and a few ways to deal with it effectively, with the best being to pull over and go to bed.

The reported heavy vehicle brake failures though, made me think of a simple road safety installation that is quite common in Australia but not in Greece: Arrester beds or runaway truck ramps as they are else known. Described by Austroads as a containment facility, it is a road safety treatment designed  for cases of brake failure. They are long trenches filled with gravel designed to stop runaway trucks by drag and fiction. Emergency stopping beds, as they are also known in Queensland, they are usually located prior to or at the start of the tight turns with small radius like the one bellow.

Arrester bed, Cunningham Highway, QLD

Arrester beds are used on downhill road sections so it's not certain that they would be suitable for either of the crashes in Greece. They do have though, a proven record of effectiveness and should be examined in all roads that carry big volumes of heavy vehicle traffic.Maybe future research can indicate whether temporary arrester beds can be used in road works situations.  

Colorado, USA, Source: LetUbeU

Not another motor show. It's the Brisbane Truck Show.

Yesterday I visited the Brisbane Truck Show 2013 at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. I have visited several trade fairs in the past, starting from my early childhood when the yearly visit to Thessaloniki International Trade Fair was something I was looking forward to. I remember vividly the big foreign national pavilions with all the exhibitors and equipment.

As a kid I had a big interest in all shorts of vehicles and especially fast cars. A few years ago I had the chance to visit the Paris motor show which is probably one of the three largest car shows in Europe along Geneva and Frankfurt. Very impressive show with some car manufacturers showing prototypes and racing models.

 

But Brisbane Truck Show was something quite different. Being my first truck show and not having too much detail on what to expect I entered the show from the Grey Street entrance. I browsed through the stands of truck accessories and I thought that this would be a boring afternoon and a total waste of time. At least the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator seminar that I had registered to attend, would make up for that. 

And then while I continued browsing through the halls and corridors I ended up at the main hall and had my first glimpse of the huge prime movers. "All right, here we are..." I thought and decided this time to find the correct first point of entrance to the main hall so I could see the exhibition without missing anything.

First stand was Australian made Kenworth trucks with the flagship T909 that is often used as a prime mover for road trains in Australia. Kenworth was one of the companies that allowed truck enthusiasts and of course potential buyers to climb inside and sit behind the steering wheel of their trucks. Once again that reminded me of my childhood when I wanted to become a truck driver.

 

 

And then it was all the other big players in the truck industry. DAF and MAN and Mercedes and Freightliner with the Coronado.

Of course Volvo could not be missing from such an event, as they are probably the best manufacturer of heavy vehicles in the world. As always the emphasis was on road safety for the driver.

 

Volvo also presented very useful and well designed software for the transport operators.

Western Star's 4900 FXC, Aussie 1, was named truck of the show. 

 

 Mack's stand was also very interesting with a touch of history added to the usual impressive trucks. From the 1980 the R797RS named Penny Ann probably reminded a lot of people of their past. 

Three hours later I left the exhibition center enthusiastic with a feeling of certainty. Similar to the car industry, that pushes the limit for road safety but also amenity for drivers, truck and heavy vehicle industry does the same but at the same time enhancing productivity and saving cost for an industry where energy consumption is so critical.