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It's quite a shock to hear that an empty lemonade bottle can kill a man, but that's exactly what I learned while spending an informative day with our neighbours, TRL, at the launch of their van security load project.
It's quite a shock to hear that an empty lemonade bottle can kill a man, but that's exactly what I learned while spending an informative day with our neighbours, TRL, at the launch of their van security load project.
According to TRL, the empty lemonade bottle was flung at high speed onto the inside of the windscreen during a crash and was promptly fired back into the windpipe of the unfortunate driver with tragic consequences. I had heard a similar tale about a heavy executive briefcase but not about something as light as an empty lemonade bottle. It makes you think about all the small items littered about a car, especially aftermarket fitments of mobile phone cradles and satnav systems, which the original vehicle designers had never accounted for in designing their interiors for optimum occupant safety.
Anyway, back to TRL. I never fail to be impressed by what they investigate and more particularly with the solutions they come up with following investigation.
This latest bit of research has been commissioned by the Freight Transport Association as a result of the confusion surrounding legal guidelines on van load security. To be honest I hadn't really given it that much thought but when you think about what is carried inside a van, you realise the potential nightmare scenario.
In the first crash test demonstration, a van was loaded up with typical builder's materials - bricks, a sledge hammer, a generator, a road breaker, stone cutter and an assortment of tools. The total load weighed 515kg, representing 55% of the permissible weight and the van had been fitted out with retrofit shelving.
The crash was designed to simulate a head-on collision between two vehicles at 30mph. You can imagine the internal state of the van after impact. The bricks were rammed up against the base of the metal bulkhead, which had become banana-shaped in the vertical plane. Not all vans are fitted with metal bulkheads so the bricks would probably have paralysed the occupants alone. While equipment was lying all over the place, most alarming of all was a metal rod which has speared through the grille in the bulkhead and was protruding just where the driver's head would have been. No doubt death or serious head injuries would have resulted.
The second crash test demonstrated the importance of securing loads properly to minimise injuries in the event of an accident. Interestingly, a 16kg load at the rear of the van would have become a 50kg load by the time it reached the bulkhead so positioning heavy loads to the front of the vehicle is best practice. While we don't really think about it, loose loads also place increased stress on seat belts and increase the forward displacement of occupants. It's all about load pressures, in one form or another!
TRL aims to produce a guide giving advice on load carriage best practice early next year. It will promote best practice for load retention, taking into account reasonableness and practicality, and can't come soon enough.
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