Big semi trucks haul stuff that keeps our economy going.
But some truck drivers drive recklessly and cause serious accidents that hurt or kill people. Luckily, new technologies can help encourage truckers to drive safely. This is good because it often means fewer accidents.
The Problem of Negligent Truck Driving
Trucks are huge and heavy, like elephants on wheels. When a loaded 18-wheeler goes slamming into smaller cars at 65 mph, very serious consequences follow.
Sometimes truckers do not drive carefully when they should. For example, a trucker may get sleepy but keep driving anyway. Or they may talk on their phone and stop paying attention to the road. Others may drink beer or do drugs which makes them drive negligently.
Driving too fast is another thing reckless truckers do that causes flips or big pile-ups on the freeway. All these things are negligent because the trucker is not being as safe and smart as they should be.
When negligent truck drivers hurt others on the road, it creates devastation everywhere.
The people hurt may be kids or someone’s mom or dad. After crashes, some have to go to the hospital. Highway deaths due to negligent truck drivers may even occur. This is why everyone agrees that using technology to catch and stop unsafe truckers from driving is a good thing.
Truck Tracking Systems Watch for Unsafe Driving
One tech tool that often helps is truck telematics systems.
The truck company can use telematics to check for unsafe driving. For example, they make rules like trucks cannot go more than 60 mph. If the tracker sees a truck speeding, it sends a signal to the company. Then they can call the speeding truck driver and warn them.
The telematics also know if the driver is taking unsafe shortcuts. Or it can prove that they did not stop to rest when they should.
Drivers must log a certain number of off-duty and sleeping hours. But some truckers wrongly work too many hours without sleeping to make more money. The tracker helps to unearth unsafe drivers who try this by showing when and where they actually drove.
Studies show telematics systems make truckers drive better. In one study, speeding tickets went down 50% after companies started using truck tracking tech. Essentially, when drivers know their employer can see bad driving, they are more likely to follow the rules and be safe drivers.
Computers Inside Trucks Also Help
In addition to telematics trackers outside, trucks now have safety computers with cameras inside too. These watch the road, cars nearby, and how the driver is doing.
For example, one system sees when the truck gets too close to the car ahead too quickly. It beeps a loud warning to tell the trucker to slow down. This prevents rear-end crashes before they happen.
Another system uses special cameras pointed at the truck driver’s face. This computer can tell if the driver starts to get sleepy by monitoring their eyes and movements. When it senses they are not paying attention to driving, it beeps to tell them to focus and wake up.
Having these computers as a “second pair of eyes” helps reduce mistakes truckers make. It keeps them driving carefully the whole trip. The computers also take videos and record data after a crash. This info helps police and insurance companies figure out who was at fault.
Technology Can Also Make Truckers Healthier
So far we have talked about technologies that monitor truckers as they drive. But the latest technologies also help truckers take better care of their bodies. This is important for road safety as healthy drivers are less likely to make mistakes while on the road.
For example, some truckers wear Fitbit-style devices to track their sleep, heart rate, steps, and other health stats. These gadgets tell if truckers are not sleeping well or have problems like high blood pressure. Their employers can use this health info to make better driving schedules.
Truckers need enough downtime for eating healthy, resting, and getting daily exercise to stay fit for driving. Schedules should allow normal sleep times, not just naps here and there. And since preventing fatigue keeps them alert on long hauls, this is something that technology can help with.
Trucking companies also have special mobile apps to make getting medical care easier for truckers. These apps allow truck drivers to video chat with a doctor. The apps also help them get counseling if they feel down or stressed out. And they guide truckers in doing simple daily workouts or yoga stretches even inside their cab.
When truck companies make an effort to take care of drivers’ health needs, the drivers feel better and drive safer.
Driving a big truck is hard enough without trying to do it on five hours of sleep or while feeling sick. And thus it is not surprising that good health and wellness programs reduce risks on the highway.
Robo-Trucks and Self-Driving Trucks
The most advanced tech that may fix unsafe truck driving is self-driving trucks!
Scientists are working on trucks that can drive themselves by using cameras, sensors, and computers much smarter than people.
Some trucks already have self-driving features to help on long highway drives. For example, “platooning” systems let one trucker lead a small convoy of two or three trucks. The following trucks sync up to the lead truck and drive, brake, and steer along automatically in a tight formation. This saves gas and reduces risks from tired drivers.
In the future, fully robotic trucks will travel all alone with no human in the cab at all! The robot-truck uses cameras that see everything around it and sensors that never get distracted. And the truck’s computer brain processes everything at lightning speed to safely navigate and turn.
Companies like Waymo and TuSimple are testing these wild self-driving trucks. Experts think it may take 10 to 20 more years before thousands of robo-trucks start delivering stuff. When auto-trucks become normal and replace human drivers, they aim to stop almost all truck-related crashes.
GPS Tracking Helps Police Catch Unsafe Truck Drivers
Police can also now use GPS and other technology to catch unsafe truckers after crashes. For example, negligent truck drivers sometimes panic after causing a terrible accident. They flee the scene – rather than take responsibility.
In the past, hit-and-run truckers had a good chance of getting away from police permanently. Now cops can use automatic license plate readers and GPS locators to track suspect trucks across entire states. This helps reconstruct what happened and proves if the driver did something criminal.
Trucking companies also use geofencing alerts to notify them when a truck goes off its allowed route. Geofencing basically draws an invisible boundary on a map. If the truck crosses the line, the system automatically reports it to the company. This reveals if a driver took side trips for illegal reasons.
So while technology gives more ways to watch trucker behavior, it also gives more ways to catch escaping truckers. Negligent drivers also have less room to hide or run away after breaking laws or causing tragedy.
Tech Brings Hope for Safer Roads
To wrap it up, negligent truck drivers are a threat to everyone else on the highway. Luckily, new technologies like truck trackers, driver monitors, health apps, and self-driving trucks aim to fix this problem.
When risky truckers know their employers and computers are watching their every move, they drive better. And future robot trucks may just drive perfectly with no humans needed. These tech advances will likely prevent terrible truck crashes down the road.
Safer trucking helps keep pedestrians, car drivers, motorcyclists and everyone on the roads protected. And with technological advances, achieving safer highways for all is a possibility.