It’s not every day that one finds herself riding in a truck loaded with plastic pellets destined for a Whirlpool factory in Arkansas. And it’s probably only once in a lifetime when one finds herself in this situation while the driver proves the effectiveness of a collision avoidance system by intentionally engaging in some serious tailgating.
For me, this day began on an innocent-seeming spring morning near Joliet, Ill.
I enjoy the testing process, so I was an enthusiastic participant. However, my appreciation for adventure became less a thrill and more a series of heart palpitations when the driver glanced at me over his shoulder and said with glee and a glimmer in his eye, “Here we go!” before moving within what seemed like a finger’s width of a pickup truck. System lights on the dashboard went from green, to yellow and then to an urgent red. I winced, but we quickly decelerated in a controlled manner and resumed a safe following distance.
“See? It works great!” the driver declared, laughing. I nodded and slowly released my white-knuckled grip on the door handle. I’d been ready to jump truck.
Before I get anyone into trouble, I’ll say that this was a controlled experiment. The operator behind the wheel was Ralph Bissey, who is an experienced, safe driver with Hoffman Transportation in Channahon, Ill., a company that itself is frequently recognized for its commitment to safety. Another participant who was aware that the large truck creeping up in his rearview mirror would, indeed, stop short of his bumper, was driving the pickup truck in front of us.
Our experiment wasn’t testing driver reaction time, either, but Eaton’s Next Generation VS-400 VORAD safety system. The system, which gives customers the ability to select and purchase any combination of safety-related VORAD offerings, is said to act as an invisible shield, detecting safety threats on the road often before the driver realizes his safety is compromised.
System offerings include a standard collision warning system with forward-looking radar that alerts drivers to objects up to 500 feet ahead, the BlindSpotter side sensor that provides a 120 degree field of view to identify objects alongside a vehicle and SmartCruise adaptive cruise control that automatically reduces vehicle speed to help prevent collisions.
