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VISION ON

1st February 2007
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Page 58, 1st February 2007 — VISION ON
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Anyone who travels regularly on the M20 or M25 will have witnessed this scene. A foreign-registered left-handdrive artic and a battered British car on the hard shoulder,exchanging insurance details.

They are the lucky ones; others end up in an adjacent field, or a hospital. While official figures have only recently been collated and don't yet give the full picture. they do show that there is a serious problem caused when foreign drivers move to the centre lane without being aware that there's a slowly overtaking car in their mirror blindspot.

While the truck's compulsory mirrors should give the full picture, it's clear that this isn't happening.'There is a case for educating car drivers to he more aware of the hazards of overtaking trucks with funny-looking registration plates, especially approaching the M25's numerous lane splits prior to junctions, Now three government agencies, the Highways Agency, Vosa and the Immigration Service, have joined forces to provide a practical solution.As drivers of UK-bound left-hookers pass through the French Channel ports they are being handed one of 40,000 free Fresnel blind-spot lenses to improve their view of overtaking traffic.

We were keen to try out the samples we were sent, but we're a bit of short of left-hand drive artics around the office. Fortunately, Cranleigh Freight Services is based not far from home,and transport manager Nick Brackpool arranged the loan of one of his lefthookers as a guinea pig.

Tricky roundabout

We met veteran Continental driver Noel Breen at Pease Pottage services, just offJ11 of the M23. From personal experience we know that this is a tricky roundabout to negotiate when sitting on the wrong side of the cab. We often see Cranleigh's artics and drawbars having to block two lanes to approach the line straight on,in order to see traffic coming from the right:not something that endears the driver to other road users who don't understand what they're up to. Fitting the lens to the right-hand window of the Aetros was easy.The fitting instructions (in live languages) call for cleaning the glass thoroughly with multiple sheets of newspaper. but we simply gave the area a wipe with some glass cleaner, which did the trick, before wetting the glass with a damp cloth.

Our first attempt. locating the lens 50mm above the bottom, was too high; better results were obtained just above the lower edge.

With the lens in place we headed towards Gatwick, and Breen immediately reported a benefit as we negotiated the twisty service area exit. Out on the motorway the lens soon proved it does what it's meant to. Well before passing cars leave the scope of the main mirror they are clearly visible in the Fresnel lens.

What really impressed Breen was the clarity and lack of distortion of the image, although there was a little glare from the sky in the lower part. liven more impressive was the help provided at roundabouts and j unctions. At a stroke, the lens completely transformed the view to the right, not just to the side and backwards, but also slightly forward. When approaching a stop line at the natural road angle, approaching traffic that would have previously been invisible was clearly seen. For the first time, our driver was able to approach junctions with at least as good a view as in a right-hooker.

One slight glitch is that the Immigration Service seems to have missed out drivers of UK-registered left-hookers We were also slightly worried about the effect on the lens' grip of the glass when the window is lowered, but a quick test showed that it stayed on, even past the Merc's tightly fitting seal.

Overall, the lens is a winner we believe that every left-hand drive-truck in the UK should have one lilted. to


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