WITNESS BOX
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Trucking technology A recent initiative at A&D Logistics has seen the truck equivalent of ‘Black Boxes’ to their 50-strong tractor unit fleet. This technology uses Smart Witness analysis software and will back up the driver’s evidence in no-fault accident claims, and record progress of every working day, while providing useful feedback data after training sessions behind the wheel. The Smart Witness camera is a compact unit that A&D has mounted inside the windscreen, located top centre, just clear of the sun visor’s shade.
Despite its relatively small size, the device gives high-resolution recording in real-time with one hour of video taking up 1GB of space on the chosen installed media. A 24/12 volt cable supplies the required power, while recording is captured on SD or SHDC memory cards up to a maximum size of 32GB. A free USB SD Card reader downloads recorded pictures and data, while Smart Witness analysis software is included with each monitor, which permits playback on any PC screen. Viewing back the exported video and relative data is a relatively straightforward process and the playback quality and clarity of information is superb. Camera images can be watched either in full screen or thumbnail modes, and with the latter there’s a host of other journey data alongside, including speed and time figures, together with acceleration or braking levels. If an incident occurs, continuous or event recording function will save evidence for 15 seconds before and five seconds after an occurrence, while a three axis G-Sensor triggers automatically during an impact, monitoring the relevant acceleration or braking forces. The entire journey’s geographical progress is also displayed on another thumbnail screen. Alan Bolsworth, joint MD of A&D, says: “Smart Witness could help protect our insurance costs, by providing vital evidence if a third party was at fault in an accident. We’re also very keen to use the system as a complimentary tool in training sessions.” As the use of technology in the road transport industry continues to increase, recording systems such as this must become commonplace in fleets keen to deploy complete transparency to their daily operations. Smart Witness offers evidence through printable incident reports detailing time, date, G-Force sensor graph and camera images, while expert recordings such as JPEG snapshots or AVI movies can also be played back on any compatible Windows PC or MAC with OSX.
▲ The Smart Witness device is unobtrusive ▲ Playback quality is clear and concise