Trucksales Safety Award: The winner

Hino set a new safety benchmark for Australia's medium-duty truck market when it officially launched its new 500 Series Standard Cab range in April 2019, and is a thoroughly deserving winner of the inaugural Trucksales Safety Award.

The Hino 500 Series Standard Cab range brought the proven safety benefits of autonomous emergency braking to Australia's medium-duty truck market for the first time, the life-saving technology also complemented by the most comprehensive suite of safety features ever brought together in a medium-duty truck.

Hino's version of AEB, which it calls its Pre-Collision System (PCS), also features pedestrian detection, with Hino's 'Safety Eye' utilising both a radar and an imaging camera to detect objects and issue visual and audible alerts to the driver, before triggering autonomous braking if no action is taken.

A collision mitigation system rather than a collision avoidance system, it effectively wipes 50km/h from the truck's speed before impact, potentially avoiding lower-speed collisions but drastically reducing the severity of an impact in higher-speed collisions.

Meanwhile, lane departure warning alerts the driver should the truck begin to stray from its lane, while adaptive cruise control takes some of the strain out of the driving task in certain situations, thereby reducing driver fatigue. It's a particularly useful feature on motorways and on longer rural runs.

All this is underpinned by Hino's Vehicle Stability Control (VSC), which first broke cover in the brand's light-duty 300 Series range back in 2011. The system uses an array of sensors to detect any loss of traction, before cutting engine output and/or independently braking individual wheels as required to restore full control.

The safety features in Hino's 500 Series Standard Cab models continue with an ECE-R29-compliant and strength-tested single cab, a driver's air bag, a front underrun protection device (FUPD) and LED daytime running lights (on FD and FE models).

Manoeuvring is made safer with a standard-fitment reversing camera, its output displayed on the truck's high-definition 7.0-inch multimedia screen, while 500 Series Standard Cab models can also be fitted with up to three additional cameras – positioned, for example, to monitor the truck's load or to eliminate blind spots when changing lanes, the camera on the relevant side activated by using the indicators.

Safety should be a top priority for everyone in the Australian trucking industry, even if we didn't have our current Chain of Responsibility legislation. No-one should be hurt for simply carrying out his or her job.

It's fantastic to see Hino remain on the front foot with its safety innovations, the vast majority of which are supplied as standard in every Hino 500 Series Standard Cab truck.

Congratulations, Hino. Your efforts will ensure more truck drivers and other motorists make it safely home to their loved ones each day.