• Every so often I like to tell you about
Page 48
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
the antics some road users get up to. In the past I have reported on the ideas of the California Highway Patrol to reduce the number of speeding drivers (don't let the punters know you're a cop — take off the blue flashing light, the Police Department stickers, get a respray and look like you're on holiday). I have told you about the "don'tpark-close-to-this-lorry" signs on the backs of trucks (to alert unsuspecting motorists of probable annihilation should they park within reading distance of the sign). Regular readers are, of course, all too aware of the potential insanity which may afflict a Swedish moose the moment it wanders out of the forest and on to the road. The damage one of these can do to 40 tonnes of Scania, any number of cars and other obstacles of an architectural nature should the moose go to town is quite devastating (see Commercial Motor September 27, 1986),
Now comes news of an anticollision radar device for road vehicles. Surely this is in the interests of road safety.
Or is it? Battelle, the US research organisation, has developed a system which "is extremely simple and could be sold at low cost when manufactured in volume".
The system combines a beam-steerable aerial with modern signal processing to allow obstacles in the road to be clearly distinguished from other background objects. Any hazards are signalled to the driver by a light or audible warning.
Two things strike me about this. Because obstacles in the road are clearly distinguished from background objects, the driver in possession of such a device may lose his or her level of perceived risk. What if the radar tells you that what is in fact a bulldozer emerging from a site exit around the corner is simply a 'background object'? The danger lies in the probability of the driver having become accustomed to the radar's messages losing instinctive caution, drives round the corner and. . .
The second puzzler — Do moose register on radar screens?
• It was reassuring to hear Leyland's UK operations ing. He'll be breaking the habit of a lifetime said a wag at the back.
"I'd like to make a statement on the Leyland Daf issue if someone cares to ask me a question" he continued, with the bravery of Daniel in the lion's den. No-one could think of a suitable question so someone said tell us anyway Robin. Not surprisingly, he did.
"I'd like to start by scotching a rumour." My pen was poised. "There is no truth in the suggestions that our new chairman will be the wellknown Dutch businessman Hertz van Rental."