SteerSafe applaud Smiths & Sons (Bletchington)

Cotswolds quarry operator and haulage firm praised by road safety campaign 

ROAD safety campaign SteerSafe has praised quarry operators and haulage firm Smiths & Sons (Bletchington) Ltd for their proactive approach towards the safety of vulnerable road users.

The long-established family-run company, which supplies sand and gravel, aggregates and Cotswold stone from its quarries in Oxfordshire alongside running haulage, plant hire and contracting services, takes road safety very seriously.

It has recently specified its entire tipper fleet to be fitted with 360° bird’s-eye view camera monitoring systems that provide the driver with an all-round view of the vehicle which ‘sees’ into driver blind spots.

The company was concerned about the ‘information overload’ on drivers who otherwise would have to scan up to six mirrors and/or monitors in quick succession to check each blind spot.

The 360° system blends the images from four wide-angle cameras mounted on the truck body to produce a single bird’s-eye image, thus eliminating all blind spots. Images are recorded for up to 1,164 hours of footage.

Also fitted will be sensors at cab floor level to alert audibly both the driver and vulnerable road users when turning left. These will meet the specification standards for FORS, CLOCS and Crossrail.

SteerSafe’s Chris Hanson-Abbott OBE said: ‘We thoroughly applaud Smiths & Sons for taking such a responsible and proactive stance towards road safety – let’s hope that more companies will follow suit. Smiths & Sons are to be commended for their far-sighted actions.’