There's a fairly new e-petition that's looking for signatures.
It was created in response to the death of Mike Ellis, workshop manager for Watsonian Sidecars. Ellis was killed in April 2012 when a large truck stopped in a narrow road, failed to spot him behind, reversed, and killed him. It was, apparently, a particularly nasty incident in which Ellis was dragged along for some distance before he was noticed.
The e-petition is part of a campaign by RearView which aims to force a change in the law and compel haulage firms to fit rear-facing cameras or warning alarms. As it stands, it appears that the law is way behind the technology. Certainly, cameras are cheap now, and there's no reason any longer for a truck to display a sign reading: If you can't see my mirrors, I can't see you.
We need to send a new message to truckers that reads: If you can't see what's behind you, you're off the road. The problem isn't the fault of truckers, of course. But the responsibility for dealing with it definitely is theirs.
We need those cameras yesterday. If you can support this, please do. If you can post this message on other forums, please do that too.
www.rearview.org.uk
email (option): dannydefazio@sumpmagazine.com
They're going to need a lorry driver with four eyes to look at that lot...too much information...
They found with American fighter pilots in Korea and Vietnam that they were turning off half of the kit as it was just too much information to take in and process...
Modern systems are 'passive' ..they monitor what is going on and only tell you when you need to know something...The technology already exists to warn the driver without him even looking behind him...Rear facing radars activated by the selection of reverse gear and linked to an audible warning device for instance....Ian
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com