THE COMFORT OF THE DRIVER.
Page 17
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Are the Physical Needs of Drivers of Heavy Commercial Vehicles Sufficiently Provided for by Body-builders ? The Writer Says "No."
By " Vim. "
DRIVING A heavy motor vehicle êJ1 day long, sometimes for hours at a stretch, is nojoke. It demands a constant output of sheer strength, and nerves (in the words of the patent food advertisement) " like whipcord." Usage takes the edge off the strain ; but it. is there, all the same. The Most modern and best-designed of lorries requires OGIisiderable muscular effort to steer it, especially in slow traffic, where the flat solid tyres show up to. disadvantage. The newest of most remarkably resilient solids—of which the advertisements in this paper describe many—transmit shocks to the driver's body, both through his arms and through his, let us say, spinal column. Clutch, springs are lighter than the: used to be, and brakes are more efficient, but his legs have plenty of work while the vehicle is on the go.
If the reader is a driver, I haye told him something that he knows already, but if he is an owner of lorries or a person who has never, in the Army or out of it, driven adorry for-•long periods of time, he will have little conception of the racking that the man at the wheel generally has to put up with. It is quite wrong that this should be so, for physical fatigue results in mental exhaustion ; and the two together beget lack of interest, carelessness, bad temper, discontent, strikes and all the rest of that state off mind. Hit were easential to the performance of the work of driving that the driver should be so racked, there would be nothing more to say on the subject, but, since most of the strain could be removed by the exercise of a little forethought and the expenditure of a small amount of money, it is surely, curious that the matter has received such scant attention.
The Driver's Seat Should not be Penitential.
I have sat in driving seats that were comparatively comfortable, but never in one on a lorry that could be classed with that of a cheap touring car. Whether it is commonly supposed by body-builders that, to provide comfort for the driver of a commerdal vehicle would be to tempt him to be less vigilant, perhaps, even to fall asleep on duty, or whether discomfort is looked on as a penance that goeS with lorry driving, as a headache goeS with drinking and other forms of dissipation, is beyond me to suggest. But there it is, and it seems to me to be unnecessarily cruel, and stupid-, to boot, tr.. make an employee's mind and muscles do twice as much as is really required of them for the efficient carrying •out of the duties that he is paid to do. The first railway locomotives were deliberately uncomfortable, because the opinion was held that the less the protection given to the man in charge the less was the chance of his relaxing his sharp look-out ahead. But, nowadays, every possible device for relieving the koo, driver of all but the bare task of controlling the giant mechanism is employed, so that his brain may remain alert. When are the builders of bodies for motor lorries go-, bag to alter their opinion? When arc users going to insist on greater comfort for their men, so that the best may be gat out of them?
• Take road shocks, for example. Given enough and the right type of coil springs, cushions can be manufactured that will absorb practically all these. The demand for maximum goods-carrying space enforces an upright position for the driver, but ample room is always available for a demp cushion, which should be much thicker than is usually made for a touring car, instead of being a mere apology for one. If the petrol tank is in,,tlie-wa.y, it can be placed somewhere else, without interfering with the design •of the chassis. The back of the seat should also be furnished with springs, and. this is just as important as having a spring seat, because, otherwise, the muscles of the back and abdomen (if there is any doctor present perhaps he will correct me if I have misquoted the organs) have constantly to be in tension. The typical backrest, consisting of a piece of board padded with a, thin layer of horsehair; is an instrument -of torture, which has to be avoided by holding the body clear of it on any but perfectly smooth roads.
The steering wheel, or the height of the seat, if you like, should be ,so arranged as to keep the driver's arms almost horiz.ontal. If his wrists have to be held Much above the height of his elbows, the blood does not seem to circulate as it should do, and tiredness-is caused. Wherethe "reach" is long, a well-padded rest for at least the right arm should be provided, and he so arranged that the driver can make use of it. By its help, the hand and arm muscles are relievedof the job of sustaining the weight of the arm in addition to turning the steering wheel. When driving a touring car, one invariably rests the right arm on the side of the carriage work, and the comfort derived therefrom is immense ; the man who is steering a heavy vehicle ought to have a similar privilege. If the left arm could be supported after the same manner, without creating an objection, I should say do it ; but, in point of fact, a second rest would obstruct access to the drivingseat.
And the. Driver Should be Protected from the Elements.
Turning now to the question of protectien against the weather, in which dust must be included, who started the popular 'superstition that lorry. drivers have eyes like deep-sea fish? Why should the majority of them have to suffer the agony of having bits of road grit blown into their optics when glass: has been at the disposal of mankind for quite a long time ?. Nor is there any reason that I can see why. rain should be permitted to soak the front seats of a. -lorry, not tomention its occupants, when private motorists are kept nice and dry. Let me hasten to add, in case these remarks sound like red revolution in disguise, that I have no whiskers, and amnot even a Socialist, but just an -ordinary human being who does not feel comfortable if others are not !
We have reached the stage of fitting high side doors to our lorries and of giving them a fairly respectable sort of dash., to say nothing of a cab front—draughty, it must be confessed, but still a cab for all that—so we might as well go the whole hog and put up a decent glass screen to ward off wind, dust, and rain. Plain .glass is somewhat fragile, and occasionally cracks under road shooks (another argument for insulating the driver I), but. Triplex can be bought, and that will Withstand shakes and humps that would shatter the cheaper staff. Moreover, there is no need to fit large 'panes, for only a very narrow strip at the top need be of glass.
No I do not understand why it should be the exception instead of the rule to come across heavy vehicles so bodied as to afford all-round efficient protection for the, driver.:
Taking no notice of the humane aspect of this subject of comfort, it pays to lookafter one's employees; it pays to see that their energies are concentrated on giving the service that is wanted of them. I think that those firms who give their. men great-coats in winter and dust-coats in summer invest--their-money in something that returns them a very good dividend.