[TusharK]

The central government had made air-conditioned cabins for trucks mandatory from April 1, 2017. The deadline for it has now been extended to December 31, 2017.



The Minister of State for Road, Transport, Highways and Shipping has confirmed that all N2 (3.5-12 tons) and N3 (upwards of 12 tons) category goods carriers must be fitted with air-conditioned cabins. Driver fatigue is believed to be one of the main causes of road accidents. Air-conditioned cabins are expected to improve driver comfort and reduce fatigue.

The decision has been taken in the wake of increasing road fatalities involving trucks and buses. The latest figures for the year 2015 put the total number of road deaths at 1,46,133. Out of the total number of fatalities, 11.4 percent involved truck users while 7.4 percent involved buses.

Source: ET Auto

[pixantz]

I don't think their logic is entirely correct though technically Ac would help reduce fatigue but in the Indian trucking scenario there are more much harsher truths about the conditions in which our truckers work. In such situations I think the results could well be the reverse.

In the trucking scenario, everything is overworked/overloaded. The trucks themselves as well as the drivers. The guys hardly have any rest. At least the majority of them. And in that situation if you place him in a comfortable Ac cabin I think a human is most probably going to be even more drowsy and sleepy at the wheel. Because the real way to have a driver fresh is firstly to have him properly rested(ac comes second) and I don't think we have a system for that in place.

[sukhoi30]

Shouldn't they first make seat belts, rear-end stop lights, brake lights, under bars etc. mandatory first?

[LordSharan]

This is a very good move, in fact all logistic vehicles eligible for and are plying on long routes. However it remains to be seen if truck pilots will actually run AC while they are driving the vehicles. If they do not run it, the entire point of making AC mandatory gets mooted.

In our country, the mileage is still considered to be a good metric for efficiency and expenses, and it's a general perception which says running AC brings down the mileage.

I can quote a parallel example from railways. Now all new IR engines (Diesel or Electric) are fitted with AC in cabins. However, I know for sure that these AC's are not used, because of fuel efficiency drop perception (or higher electricity consumption in case electric locos).

[hrman]

I like this move by the government to make it mandatory for Trucks to come fitted with Cabin ACs. Would also have liked them to make some safety related aspects mandatory and attach severe penalties for violation: Rear tail light, ban shrill horns, ban excessively bright headlights, make seat belt mandatory, ABS and Airbags in trucks and buses etc. But nothing stopping the owners of these trucks instructing the drivers to restrict the AC usage to save on mileage.

I read somewhere that there are lesser and lesser youth who now aspire to drive trucks. Most are attracted towards driving tourist cars/ vehicles. The money and comfort is much better compared to trucks and better family time. (truck drivers can take anything from a few days to a few weeks to return home)

Hope this move is met with positive results.

[OrangeCar]

Woww.. somebody seems to have thought about truck and bus drivers.

I mean, how could they! Oh, wait.. almost 20% of accidents caused by them. That's why you want to take care of them.

A government, has to actually step in and mandate something like this. Why? Because, as transport industry, and as a society in general we have could care less about them. All we want is for them to move out of our way on the roads and we could care less after that. We want transportation to be as cheap as possible, even if it means one person driving a truck/bus for 48 hours straight without a break.. I mean, why would we care?

Enough of my rant!

Thankfully, somebody is thinking of their well being. Some more steps in this direction could improve their lives, and in general of all road users -

1. Improving roadside infrastructure, with frequent rest areas with bare minimum services of restrooms.

2. Strict enforcement of working tail lamps, headlamps, turn indicators, etc is mandatory.

3. Validation of fitness certificates of vehicles.

4. Like minimum wages, there should be minimum allowances for drivers on these long haul routes.

[alpha1]

I believe this to be driven more by intense lobbying by the truck manufacturers than actual interest in safety.

How many AC variants exist today?
What percentage get sold?

This is plain marketing by the manufacturers to rise up the "value chain" and sell higher priced goods.

How about fixing the duty hours of driving and coming up with a mechanism of logging and checking that?

[Engine_Roars]

I am just back from a 2 weeks holiday trip to Uk & Europe. The kind of trucks they drive there, it puts our passenger vehicles to shame. We have a long long way to go before we could call ourselves a developed country, I am sure it is not going to happen in my lifetime but steps like this if implemented, would definitely make me feel a little bit better about us.

Correct me if I have wrong information - one rule I specifically liked was each driver is assigned an ID card which is required to turn the vehicle on, once the card has been in the system for 8-10 hours the vehicle would not move forward. It makes resting mandatory.

[skchettry]

A good move indeed to check driver's fatigue. But a lot more needs to be done towards making/maintaining our trucks roadworthy and also to check the men behind the wheels are well trained and disciplined.

[rakesh_r]

A good move by the govt. At least in that way we get good solid metal cabins with adequate heat insulators and sound proofing way better than the traditional ones made by the coach builders.

[landcruiser123]

Fine. We have ACs in the truck.

How are we going to force the drivers to use them? Especially considering how FE crazy our country is. Using AC is not going to hit FE with these big engines.

We should also:
1. Restrict driving hours per day
2. Provide better rest facilities
3. Have safety/warning systems like- lights (yes, you read it right) and underrun bars in the rear and side.

[Akib Khan]

Another lame rule by the government to tackle the real issue. Instead of making ac mandatory they should strictly check the working condition of the trucks. I travel regularly on NH8 and often come across trucks which have no rear tails lights. Its just a hit and miss case.
I had read some article that the truck union has offered to pay thousands of crores to the government per year in exchange of no toll booths throughout India. They can use just a small fraction of that money to make their trucks safe for road use.

[abhishek46]

Originally Posted by landcruiser123

Fine. We have ACs in the truck.

How are we going to force the drivers to use them? Especially considering how FE crazy our country is. Using AC is not going to hit FE with these big engines.

I am sure the lawmakers cant find innovative methods to enforce this as well.
One easy method would be to remove the AC switch itself and make it ON by default. Auto-AC ON

[pranavGTI]

Originally Posted by Engine_Roars

Correct me if I have wrong information - one rule I specifically liked was each driver is assigned an ID card which is required to turn the vehicle on, once the card has been in the system for 8-10 hours the vehicle would not move forward. It makes resting mandatory.

I'm not sure how many of us know that trucks/lorries that ply across states (National Permit) usually have two drivers. They take turns in driving. Normally they have a day long gap to start with the next trip after unloading. This is the fact in the vehicles from my hometown-Namakkal, which is also called transport city. I'm unsure about vehicles from other states.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by sukhoi30

Shouldn't they first make seat belts, rear-end stop lights, brake lights, under bars etc. mandatory first?

Still doesn't take away from the fact that it's a step in the right direction. There is no doubt that an air-conditioner greatly elevates comfort levels & reduces fatigue.

We mustn't shoot down every good initiative with what hasn't been done yet. Among other things, the government has enforced emission norms on commercial vehicles (even though manufacturers were fully confident of an extension), made ABS mandatory etc.