Heavy Duty Trucking, July 2015

Cab Comforts chrome some add premium sound systems I remember one driver in particular who added huge subwoofer speakers under the bunk Schnautz says every one of their 50 trucks is specd with top of the line interiors the best tires and even accessory lighting packages installed in the shop He claims turnover at Clark Freight is less than 10 so that opens the door to more personal relationships with the drivers making the perks a little easier to apply Those sorts of relationships are a little harder to maintain in a very large fleet but there are still plenty of ways to build better relations with driver through equipment specing Consider the average age of our workforce Its estimated that 51 of drivers are over age 45 and 17 are over age 55 A little TLC applied to their worn and weary bones might be welcome Daniel Lewis global aftermarket program manager at Commercial Vehicle Group manufacturers of Bostrom and National seating products says the health benefits of better seating and mattress products in trucking cant be overstated Consider the health costs associated with poor seating posture and sleeping conditions Lewis points out With a quality seat you get better weight distribution through the legs and lower back with fewer pressure points better circulation and better posture thanks to multiple lumbar adjustments As drivers age many of them complain of back pain and related ailments and for some its a career limiting problem Earlier this year Mike Rosen Bose Ride Systems chief engineer and general manager offered a testimonial from a driver who was close to retiring because of back pain but when provided with a new Bose seat suspension found that he could continue driving without the pain he experienced with his previous seat That may be an extreme example but it seems the product has kept at least one driver around a little longer Lewis also suggests sleeper mattresses deserve a little more attention While most of the OE offerings are much better now than they once were Cab environments then and now While some veteran drivers might approve youd likely have a hard time getting one of todays 20 something drivers into an 80s vintage or earlier truck They were pretty utilitarian affairs painted dash panels a pile of gauges an AM FM radio maybe with a cassette player if you had a generous boss Power windows door locks and mirrors were almost as rare as air conditioners The trucks pictured here were state of the art at the time but walk in sleepers were just emerging power steering was optional and if you had any more than 425 horses under the hood you were probably an owner operator or a bull hauler There were lots of fleets around back then that specd the bare essentials of incab amenities Those trucks were natural evolutions of the 70s and 60s vintage trucks but the evolution was slow You can compare a mid 70s Kenworth to a mid 80s model for example and youll find they still are not up there with some of the premium sleep products we buy for our own bedrooms Who can argue with the need for a good sleep in this safety driven world especially in team operations where the bed is always in motion Sleeper mattress can be a health matter as well Lewis points out In slip seat operations drivers dont like sharing a bed with a driver they may not even know Some aftermarket offerings allow the mattress to be removed easily from the truck so the driver can keep his or her own matress as they move from truck to truck Off duty comfort Living in a 50 square foot space doesnt offer a lot of opportunity for luxury but it can be made bearable Items like fridges and microwaves can make the layovers more pleasant or at least less expensive High output inverters make those sorts of amenities possible and its always safer to have them professionally installed Schnautz says his company opts for the top of the line interior packages they didnt change that much All of the truck makers were the same Compare that to todays evolution where change occurs every couple of years with the introduction of new materials design techniques and it should be said demand from drivers and fleets for more comfortable and driver friendly trucks Todays trend is toward styling and build quality more in line with high end cars than the trucks of yore In previous years it took a decade or more for some automotive technologies to migrate to heavy trucks Now the technology emergence is nearly parallel 68 HDT JULY 2015 www truckinginfo com