Road safety campaign SteerSafe has praised quarry operator and haulage firm Smiths & Sons (Bletchington) Ltd for its pro-active approach towards the safety of vulnerable road users.
The long-established, family-run company, which supplies sand and gravel, aggregates and Cotswold stone from its quarries in Oxfordshire alongside running haulage, plant hire and contracting services, takes road safety very seriously.
It has recently specified its entire tipper fleet to be fitted with 360 degree bird’s-eye view camera monitoring systems that provide the driver with an all-round view of the vehicle which ‘sees’ into driver blind spots.
The company was concerned about the ‘information overload’ on drivers who otherwise would have to scan up to six mirrors and or monitors in quick succession to check each blind spot.
The 360 degree system blends the images from four wide-angle cameras mounted on the truck body to produce a single bird’s-eye image, thus eliminating all blind spots. Images are recorded for up to 1164 hours of footage.
Also fitted will be sensors at cab floor level to alert audibly both the driver and vulnerable road users when turning left. These will meet the specification standards for FORS, CLOCS and Crossrail.
Chris Hanson-Abbott OBE, of SteerSafe, said: “We thoroughly applaud Smiths & Sons for taking such a responsible and pro-active stance towards road safety – let’s hope that more companies will follow suit.
“Smiths & Sons’ is to be commended for its far-sighted actions.”
