Collision Mitigation
By G Ray Gompf, CD
Mark Wallace, a knowledgeable, long term truck driver, is really troubled by the collision mitigation systems that they’re putting in all newer trucks.
“My gripe is really not that it slows you down to a 3 1/2 second following distance but my gripe is that it will slam on the brakes automatically if it feels like you are in a collision situation.
“I’m minding my own business going down the road with no one in front of me and [an] overhead sign triggered my collision mitigation system and slammed on the brakes out of nowhere and about jerked the steering wheel out of my hand.
“My main concern is if I am having to drive a vehicle equipped with this during icy or snowy or even heavy rain conditions that it will break traction and cause me to wreck.
“I wonder how many accidents have been caused because of this collision mitigation system and I also think a petition should be signed to eliminate it.” he writes in a Facebook post.
Wallace isn’t alone. More and more drivers are speaking out about these collision mitigation devices that aren’t and that safety is being compromised.
Many long term drivers are quitting the industry simply because these devices aren’t living up to the hype and they know their personal safety is compromised and they’re not prepared to die just because some engineer says “but it’s safer”.
It’s not these more seasoned drivers aren’t giving the new technology a fair shake and adapting to the new way of driving. It’s they have tried to work with the systems and there’s no way for the human to either override or work in concert with the collision mitigation systems. The computer is always in control and misreads situations more times than it reads correctly.
Simple curves in the road are recognized as there being no road at all. Besides the warning sounds, warning lights, and actually applying braking power far in excess of what is required for the situation, often throwing the driver forward, there just seems to be no way to circumvent.
It seems that multi lane, controlled access highways aren’t as bad as two lane inter-directional traffic that some have described as a nightmare.
Some of the windshield display gauge lights obscure that which the driver is supposed to see, especially at night making oncoming traffic difficult to see or even where the oncoming vehicle actually is.
The experts say they need to study the situation, those who live with collision mitigation and ELDs, then throw in speed limiters for genuine chaos. Drivers have been saying that safety is being compromised and how the compromise is taking place and how to make it better but no one listens to mere drivers. After all, we’re only drivers because we weren’t hireable at any other job.
If there is no engineer/end user communication, and there isn’t, then safety is being jeopardized. If safety is being compromised with no cures in sight, then seasoned drivers are going to be leaving the industry in droves — and they are. It’s not about paying more, although drivers are severely underpaid. It’s not about respect although respect is something sadly lacking in transportation. It’s about drivers feeling safe enough and in control enough to be able to make it back home to see their families, friends and loved ones.
If there is no political/end user communication, and there isn’t, then safety is being jeopardized. If the large carriers are the only ones heard, safety is not just jeopardized but compromised. In fact, less than ten percent of drivers and small business owner operators even have a voice, mind you it is a loud voice that doesn’t back down from its principles.
The problem is that various factions of the industry have their own axe to grind and they grind it for their own use. Drivers being the low end of the totem pole, rarely can get their point of view, and seemingly, the only point of view that’s directly related to the intermingling with the general public on the roadways of the nation.
Shippers demand how the drivers will interact with them and actually issue fines for non compliance. Receivers demand how the drivers will interact with them and actually issue fines for non compliance. Carriers don’t care, they just want the job done and get paid for said job. Drivers care because they must by law follow all the rules, issued by governments. Drivers must comply with shippers and receivers even when the shippers and receivers rules counteract the government rules, regulations and yes, laws. The driver is the face of the carrier and bears the brunt of all interactions with customers, authoritarians, and the general public.
The government for its part only cares about looking like they care from the point of view of the general public. The drivers and small business owner operators are easy pickings for the government with very little consequence at the voting station.
So when engineers go to the government and propose something like “collision mitigation” systems that takes the responsibility for braking away from the driver and assign a computer to take care of collision mitigation under the guise of safety, the government jumps at the change to look good and not spend a dime to do so, meanwhile the collision rate rises exponentially and then they blame the skill level of drivers on the worsening statistics but never look at what may have created the reason for the worsening statistics in the first place. Their attitude is: how can statistics be worse than when there wasn’t collision avoidance technology. The technology can never be wrong. Well, the technology has been oversold and under delivered. There, it’s been said, now do something about it. There’s no need to study the problem with a preconceived notion. There’s no need to prove the hypothesis. There are 3,000,000 test subjects all saying the same thing but their voice is being overridden by those with a vested interest in promoting their agenda at the expense of reality.
Safety isn’t about producing equipment and systems to provide a safe work environment. Safety is about examining the best practises and creating a safe mind set within the driving culture. Safety is about seeing something wrong and correcting it right then and there.
While safety policies are necessary where they are accepted best practices, but there has to be enough flexibility for modification of policy when the need arises. Policies must not be so rigid that improvements can’t be brought to bear. Those myriad of safety managers and engineers dreaming up new toys shouldn’t be the only members of the industry inputing ideas to improve safety. The drivers and small business owner operator is the foremost safety individual that any company can have. Listen to those eminently qualified individual safety people that are already at the disposal of every carrier in the business.
Safety isn’t something to be dictated. Safety is about creating a culture of safety minded individuals who have the freedom to bring safety concepts to the organization for which the work. Everyone, EVERYONE, especially those on the road need and want to be as safe as they can be. They also need to be encouraged to exercise their safety minds with everything they do every minute of every hour of every day. Don’t overlook the best safety expert available anywhere.
