Report targets descent safety

A new report from Austroads titled Advanced Systems for Managing Heavy Vehicle Speed on Steep Descents has examined what it describes as cost-effective technology-based systems that may reduce the likelihood of issues for trucks on downhill runs.

The 93-page document, available on the Austroads website, looks at 'smart' technical solutions that might alert a heavy vehicle driver to "unsafe operation" on a descent, rather than approaching the issue through enforcement, driver education, licensing, vehicle design, road design or a range of other perspectives.

The report found that such solutions are at present limited both in terms of prevalence and data on effectiveness, and that current infrastructure-based systems are prohibitively costly. While in-vehicle and Co-operative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) technologies are not yet incorporating descent warnings, the report found that the principles behind the incorporation of such alerts are sound.

"In-vehicle telematics and C-ITS have been shown to have the potential to provide advanced warnings to drivers of heavy vehicles on steep descents," states the report.

"Of the in-vehicle telematics and C-ITS systems reviewed, incorporating a warning system into existing in-vehicle technologies, such as smartphones, navigation systems or a Transport Certification Australia (TCA) compliant intelligent access program (IAP) monitoring device, show the most promise."

While it seems such technological descent warning systems are only in their infancy, the report underlines the importance played by mass in any system's effectiveness, with an accurate vehicle weight being – rather obviously, some might say – a crucial piece of the puzzle.

"This shows that it is important to include vehicle mass in any technological solution to the issue of heavy vehicles on steep descents, and that a system using an estimate of vehicle mass based on axle configuration would either produce a number of false warnings, or not provide a warning when it should," the report states.

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