Truck drivers like Joe Henderson know only too well how dangerous driving a big rig hauling 80,000 pounds can be. When you are carrying that kind of load, Henderson says stopping short or swerving just isn't an option. "You swerve with one of these, you're going in a ditch, possibly hurt yourself or kill somebody else," he says.
According to the Department of Transportation, large trucks are involved in more than 500,000 accidents each year. Last year, close to 5,000 of those truck accidents were fatal. Jeff Vukovich, Regional Manager for Con-Way Freight Services says big rig drivers need much more time to react than those driving cars. " Driving a tractor trailer, you are going to need 10 times the distance to stop than a personal vehicle," he says.
To help keep the roads safe. Con-Way Freight has started installing state of the art radar sensing devices in the cabins of its trucks. The devices give out an audio warning when a driver gets too close to an approaching vehicle, drifts out of his lane or is in danger of rolling the truck over. The device will even slow the truck down if driver does not take action in time. "These technologies and these systems help ensure safer roads not only for our drivers but for pedestrians on the road as well," Vuckovich says.
The radar sensing devices cost about $4,000 dollars to install in each truck. Con-way has installed the radars in 10 of the 40 trucks operating out of its Syracuse branch. Nationwide the company plans to equip 1,300 trucks with the radars by the end of the year.
