In the past few decades, the technical innovations on buses and coaches have been drastic. While self-driving coaches are still a part of the distant future (thank goodness), coaches are equipped with more and more features by the year. In a time where the average driver is becoming older worldwide (the average bus driver in the US is 57 years old!). Many might say we should focus more on getting people to driver rather than innovating new technologies. However, to each their own.
The goal of today’s article is not to question the ability of senior drivers to adapt to new technologies, but to compare vehicles made a few decades back with today’s ones. Drivers who got in the line of work years ago will probably know best what goes and what doesn’t when it comes to driving. We’ll cover these new features one by one.
1. Backup Cameras
While one may argue that backup cameras on buses and cars have ruined the driver’s ability of thinking and perception, they definitely play a huge role in pedestrian safety. As a bus driver you have seen already hundreds if not thousands of time that the average person does not think. Why? Unfortunately that is beyond my perception but I believe it has to do something with a certain saying:
"Two things are infinite - the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe"
Albert Einstein
Backup cameras are of immense help
Those of you who drive around bus terminals and similar places very often will know what I’m talking about. People walk in front, behind and almost under your bus all the time. It’s the place where all logic cedes to exist and its up to us to think for them. However, we’re busy people.
Think about all the things you’ll be doing in your bus, especially while at a terminal. Giving out tickets, returning spare change, answering to questions about route A and bus X, as well as avoiding other buses as you reverse out of the platform. While you’re doing a hell of a multitasking job, there’s a 90% chance there will be somebody walking behind your bus, looking into the phone as they own the place. This is where the rear cameras really come in handy.
The backup cameras have a wide, or also known as a fish eye lens. This means that you have much more visibility but at the same time your distance perception is not that good. From what I’ve seen you usually have more space than you think, but that’s not something to play with. To sum it up, backup cameras are a fully positive innovation on modern day buses.
If you asked me to name a negative about backup cameras, here it is. Some manufacturers have not put enough effort when it comes to incorporating them onto the body of the vehicles. Backup cameras should be part of the body, not something you put into a piece of plastic, stick it to the rear of the coach and call it a day. Talking about you MAN. On one of our first visits to the bus & truck wash the rear camera was pulled out by the brushes. This happened to a brand-new coach.
2. Cameras Instead of Side Mirrors
Ah yes, the newest “fad” in the bus & truck industry. In the past few years, you have probably been seeing more and more heavy vehicles with cameras instead of side mirrors.
According to Volvo Trucks: Better aerodynamics and less fuel consumption are the primary reason why these camera monitor systems have been developed. Although they have just been in commercial use for the past few years, some professionals swear by them.
Me? I’m still skeptical. As all new technologies it’s going to take time to make it perfect however one fear is NEVER going to leave my mind. What if the camera freezes out of the blue? Oh well.
Let’s make a rundown of the pros and cons of using cameras instead of side mirrors, also make sure to tell me what you think down in the comments below.
Camera Pros:
- They take up less space, meaning you don’t have 2 massive blindspots on your left and right side. Sounds nice.
- Better aerodynamics and fuel consumption. But you are probably wondering what’s the difference huh? Up to 1.5 %. If your mileage is 25L/100 now you’ll spend 24.6/100. On a thousand kilometre journey that will be 4 liters at best. For the US readers, from 9.41 mpg you’ll go up to 9.55. In 620 miles you’ll save 1 gallon. Thinking about it, I don’t even know if this belongs under pros.
- Better visibility during rain and less cleaning necessary. I’m not going to lie here. Even as somebody who is 6ft3 – washing the side view mirrors is annoying. One of my colleagues even got himself a little folding step stool which makes the job hell of a lot easier.
- You can see better in the dark. Heavy rain at night can get scary and this is where I see the camera monitoring system helping.
Camera Cons:
- Don’t forget that cameras are screens, no matter how developed they are. They are two-dimensional instead of three-dimensional. If you’re having trouble with depth perception and the doctor has been giving you a hard time because of that, it might be a lifesaver to you. However, this is a big con. Not just for obvious safety reasons, but also for your own health. We have to train our eyes all the time and what better way than getting paid for it? Oh, the image resolution is also smaller. You wouldn’t want to watch footy in 720p, so why would you want the same for a lifesaving decision such as this one.
- How much do they cost to repair? Hint – It’s bloody expensive. This is a real life story of what happened recently. Two truck drivers collided on a narrow, countryside road. One truck had a mirror and the other had a camera. The mirror, other than a scratch, was pretty much untouched.
- What do you think happened to the camera? Bingo. Straight to safe mode. Driver was able to drive for another 50 or so kilometres. How did he do it? Beats me.
If you’re driving a coach with a camera monitoring system, share your thoughts how it helped (or worsened) your day to day as a driver.
3. Emergency Brake Assist
During your workday, you’re going to have at least one or two cars suddenly stopping in the middle of the road. Most of the times you’ll manage to brake on time. However once in your career, you might actually rear-end someone. This happens way more often in traffic jams with a constant stop-and-go flow. who’s fault is it going to be? Probably ours, beacuse we’re the professionals. Being a professional driver means, among else, to drive intuitively as well as defensively – having the ability to predict something bad can happen.
But sometimes we can be distracted in a split second. As we have to take care of the cars in front of us, behind us, and to our sides – sooner or later somebody may slip off and do something unpredictable. This is where emergency brake assist comes in handy.
I was saved by this system once or twice. The other 10 times it turned on it was just an annoyance and a shock to the passengers. First you’ll get a red notice on your dashboard that you are too close. If you don’t react to that, in a split second you’ll get a loud sound warning and then the coach will brake by itself. If you get too close to causing a potential accident – the bus will come to almost a complete halt and stay that way for a few seconds.
Do you drive a new coach? Forget about the stuff you used to do. These systems don’t allow you to swerve around cars in a hurry, or tailgate somebody who’s been driving 20 under the speed limit for an hour now. Those of you living in countries with a good road behaviour etiquette will get used to it quickly. But having this anywhere in the Balkans, or worse yet – Southeast Asia, will take some time to get used to.
4. Traffic Jam Assist
Everybody has been there. Miles upon miles of cars, trucks and buses clogged up on the highway one after another. It’s a scorching hot summer day, you’ve been driving since early morning and this is the last thing you need. We usually say how the worst thing about the job is waiting. The one thing beating it is waiting in traffic. Keeping an eye on the sides so somebody doesn’t cut in line. Keeping up on the car in front so they don’t breakcheck you.
The engineers have developed an interesting system when it comes to traffic jams too. Traffic Jam Assist is there to do all the work for you (but you still have to hold hands on the wheel). You can activate it at slow speeds in case of a traffic jam. Once the system detects
the traffic ahead it will maintain distance until the vehicle in front of you stops. When the vehicle goes, your coach will follow automatically.
I still haven’t used this system (and I’m not sure if my coach even has it). And to be honest, I probably will not. You just have to leave some things to the professionals, and when it comes to honking and not allowing others to cut in front of me – that’s where I shine.
5. ATTENTION ASSIST
The attention assist system goes hand in hand with lane departure warnings. As you drive, your steering movements are constantly evaluated by the system and stored into a sort of algorithm. When the system notices signs of tiredness and lack of concentration, such as driving out of your lane accidentally for a few times – It will display a little note on your dashboard telling you that you should take a rest. Thinking about that – it sounds pretty interesting. The system learns how you drive and will immediately recognize if there is a deviation from the usual.
Unfortunately, with tight schedules and badly organised trips, this works much better on paper than it does in reality.
I got these “take a rest” notes on my dashboard a few times. What’s funny is that I would usually get them at the start of my workday, before my first cup of coffee. It may be one of the simpler systems on the coach (at least to us outsiders), but it certainly is worth it. Oh, it would be a good to point out that it works independently of the tachograph/electronic logging device.
6. Side Guard assist
Most helpful in cities and multi-lane roads, the side guard assist is there for you when you have to turn but you can’t see anything. It controls the entire side of the coach, giving you a little visual on your side-mirrors if there’s something on the side. Side guard assist does not brake by itself. It is designed to help you with your assessment if you’re turning on changing lanes. This means that even if the driver does end up having a collision – the damage will be minimal. You can see how it works in the video below:
The Future of the Bus and Coach Industry
With that, I’m going to finish this week’s article. There are quite a few more safety features out there which I can’t wait to get my hands on and write about. Are they all for the good? What kind of question is that? They definitely are. Do engineers sometimes make designs that are not good for the driver? They definitely do. I believe that in the next few years, these systems which are somewhat clunky now will be completely perfected. However, that’s not the point of the story.
The point of this story is that a large part of being a professional driver – no matter what you’re driving – is ingenuity. That’s a word I haven’t heard in a while. Why? Probably because all of these systems making us “dumber” by the day. Safer, but definitely dumber. Technology, no matter how good its cause may be, will ultimately lose against nature.
"For you are dust, and to dust you shall return"
Genesis 3:19
To wrap this up with a piece of advice – use all the systems you can, as one day – you will save a life. However, don’t resort to blindly trusting them. Always use your own mind and skills to judge a difficult situation. I hope you enjoyed the article guys. If you like what you read, consider donating. It helps me keep the blog up and ad-free. Oh, and if you’re interested in health and that kind of stuff, you’ll definitely want to click on the image down below.