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New Guide Outlines Fleet Safety Enhancements with Direct Vision Trucks
Together for Safer Roads has released a Direct Vision Transition Guide to enhancing driver visibility and reducing accidents, fatalities, and injuries. The guide leverages data to provide public and private fleet operators insight into the relationship between driver visibility and roadway fatalities.
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Casella Waste Systems
Together for Safer Roads has released a Direct Vision Transition Guide to enhancing driver visibility and reducing accidents, fatalities, and injuries.
The guide leverages data to provide public and private fleet operators insight into the relationship between driver visibility and roadway fatalities.
“Truck operation is an essential and difficult job,” commented Keith Kerman , NYC Chief Fleet Officer and Deputy Commissioner at NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS), in a statement. “Conventionally designed trucks create major visual obstructions for truck operators and contribute to many tragic and preventable fatalities each year.”
TSR’s new guide outlines how operators can measure visibility in existing fleets and highlights the opportunities available with direct vision trucks currently on the U.S. market.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams signed an executive order in 2024 requiring all city fleet and contractor trucks to have high-vision or camera technology.
Other insights in the guide show that:
Public and private fleet operators can reduce roadway crashes, fatalities, and injuries by including direct vision trucks in their fleets. Data from London, where trucks have been required to meet a Direct Vision Standard since 2019, shows a 75 percent reduction in fatal crashes and a 64 percent reduction in crashes causing severe injuries where vision was a factor.
Direct vision trucks are much safer than conventional cabs, TSR states. Studies found that driving a traditional cab resulted in a 23 percent increase in pedestrian collisions versus trucks optimized for direct vision.
Truck drivers responded favorably to the opportunity to drive direct vision trucks. Drivers surveyed reported that improved visibility reduced stress and fatigue, while low-entry cab design reduced falls and other workplace accidents.
“The report will raise awareness on how fleet operators in the US can reduce traffic fatalities and injuries by improving driver visibility,” said Peter Goldwasser, TSR executive director. “Buying trucks that are designed to increase/improve what the driver can see directly from the drivers’ seat will reduce crashes, fatalities, and injuries.”
Goldwasser also discussed the growing demand for direct vision trucks in the U.S.: “The cab design changes that improve visibility, such as lower-cab, increased windows, and changes to hood size, also dovetail with design needs and opportunities of electric vehicles. As fleet operators seek to transition to electric vehicles, they can also address road safety by looking at direct vision vehicles.”
Source: TSR
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