• Japan has over 78 million vehicles in service,21 million
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of which are trucks of varying sizes.Traffic accidents peaked at nearly 700,000 in 1970, claiming 11,451 lives including 2,000 cyclists. That figure has almost halved since then, partly due to legislation aimed at improving all round visibility for truck drivers.
In Japan, as in the UK, vehicles drive on the left and all sizes of commercial vehicles must have extra windows on their nearside doors.This enables the driver to see cyclists coming alongside the truck's nearside front corner.
Delivery trucks must also be fitted with a set of multiple mirrors on the left-hand corner of the cab to let drivers see children walking across the front of vehicles, as well as giving them a view down the sides.
Nissan's new Big Thumb heavy vehicle cab employs motorised mirrors and support arms that let the driver adjust them.They can also be retracted when driving through narrow spaces and then repositioned, all from inside the cab.
With increasing numbers of front end collisions in fast moving traffic more use is being made of TV monitors with wideangle lenses to make the bus or truck driver aware of impending danger.
Mitsubishi's concept Super Great truck has these fitted down each side, front and rear to eliminate all blind spots (see Tokyo Show Report, CM 28 October).