Beware the “Death Van.”

It’s not what you might be thinking. The Death Van isn’t some comic book or movie character that goes around killing bad guys by running them over or blowing them up.

Well, that’s not entirely true.

This truck does go around killing people. But it kills them legally.

The Death Van is the nickname for China’s fleet of mobile execution chambers. The inconspicuous vehicles, which resemble a tour bus crossed with a police squad car, measure 20 to 26 feet long.

The manufacturer is the Jinguan Group in China The company also makes bulletproof limousines and armored trucks for banks. Talk about technology transfer.

The Death Vans travel to areas where executions by lethal injection might not otherwise be possible.

With the vehicles, small town and cities don’t have to have their own execution faculties or have to be bothered with disposing of the dead bodies. The Death Vans handle both.

Executions in the Death Vans are viewed on closed circuit television so that local law enforcement authorities can view the lethal injections to make sure they are carried out legally. Thoughtful, don’t you think?

Another “nice” thing about the vans is that prisoners sentenced to death can be executed locally, closer to communities where they broke the law. The idea being: to better deter others from committing crime in the area.

China, the world leader in executing convicted criminals, you may interested to know, is slowly phasing out public executions by firing squad in favor of lethal injections.

Another interesting item: Jinguan Group’s glossy brochure on its mobile execution chambers are in Chinese and in English.

I imagine it takes a certain type of individual to want to become a Death Van driver.

How’d you like to have to write the driver recruitment ad for that position?

I welcome your thoughts and comments.

To leave yours, click on the “No Comments” link below.

Remember that British television show from years ago, “The Prisoner?”

Actor Patrick McGoohan played a British secret agent who resigns his job and then finds himself captive in a mysterious seaside village under the rule of Number One.

There, McGoohan is under constant surveillance. He comes to know this, and that influences his behavior.

When we know we’re being watched, we’re more likely to do things the proper way. Conversely, when we don’t think we’re being observed, there’s the tendency to find shortcuts and take risks.

That’s just human nature.

That principle is being applied to warehouses and forklift operators to improve safety.

Even trained, experienced operators have an inclination to cut corners when in a hurry, or when management isn’t around. And that’s not a good thing, as accident-inducing behavior creates dangerous situations.

I was surprised to learn that one person is killed every 3½ days by forklifts, and some 20,000 workers seriously injured each year. Those stats come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Forklift-monitoring technology is being developed to allow managers to know what’s happening in the warehouse and on the docks when they aren’t watching.

These technologies help promote operator accountability for reducing accidents and damage, and they’re proving effective.

Consider a study done by ShockWatch, a company that specializes in damage prevention, with a major warehouser.

At first, forklift operators performed their daily tasks but didn’t know they were being observed.

Then, operators were verbally reminded to stay safe, and told that an alarm system would sound in the event of an impact exceeding a pre-determined threshold.

The final phase of the study involved accountability. Operators were assigned keys that allowed them operate their forklifts. The warehouse managers also were issued keys.

When the impact threshold was exceeded, the forklift slowed to a creep, the lift was interrupted, and an alarm sounded continuously until a manager came to the forklift, turned off the alarm and returned the forklift to operational status.

The threat of having to face responsibility for improper driving was dramatic. Daily threshold-exceeded impacts dropped by about 94%.

Maybe there is something to be said for this big-brother-is-watching thing after all.

I welcome your thoughts and comments.

To leave yours, click on the “No Comments” link below.

In a previous blog, I called attention to the Commercial Medium Tire Debris Study.

I commented that this recently released report by the National Highway & Traffic Safety Administration was, among other things, educational.

A reader called and took exception.

I asked him if he was up for a little truck tire industry knowledge test. “Bring it on,” he said.

“Good deal,” I replied, and gave him five acronyms contained in the report.

“Tell me what they stand for,” I challenged him. He only got one of the five correct.

How would you do?

The five acronyms are:

1. AADTT

2. IVHS

3. NAICS

4. UTD

5. VLS

They stand for:

1. Annual Average Daily Truck Traffic

2. Intelligent Vehicle Highway Systems

3. North American Industry Code Classification System

4. Useful Tread Depth

5. Visible Litter Survey

My interaction with the caller brought to mind that Chinese Proverb: “Learning is like rowing upstream: not to advance is to drop back.”

With everything going on in the world these days, you may have missed a most interesting read: the National Highway & Traffic Safety Administration’s report entitled, Commercial Medium Tire Debris Study.

The agency contracted researchers to adopt a scientific approach to determine the causes, extent, and impacts of tire debris.

You’re probably shaking your head thinking: Kolman needs a checkup from the neck up. Right?

Not so fast.

I’ll have you know this 214-page report is chock full of educational, useful, and thought-provoking material. In addition to discussing the whole matter of tire debris, subjects addressed range far and wide - from the processes of tire manufacturing, retreading, and regrooving to fleets and their tire programs to truck tire failures to tire safety and durability issues to wide base tires and more.

One of the many things that caught my attention was that overall, researchers collected more than 86,000 tons of tire/rubber casings and debris, of which 1,496 items were assessed to determine their probable cause of failure. Talk about labor-intensive.

The researchers found that the top three reasons casings were removed from service were:

- Road hazards - 32 %.

- Maintenance/operational factors - 30%.

- Overdeflected operation (underinflation) -14%.

“Slightly less than 10% of all casings identified showed any manufacturing or process-related conditions that could be expected to contribute to the tire being removed from service,” the report stated. “Of this slightly less than 10%, the vast majority appeared to be retreading process issues, such as casing selection and repair, or tread rubber application issues.”

An underlying message throughout the report, published in December, is that proper tire care and maintenance is essential to keeping tires operating safely and at peak performance.

Give it a read.

The report can be accessed by clicking here.

What do you get when you combine the green movement, with renewable energy researches, and outside-the-box thinking?

You get the Electro-Kinetic Road Ramp - basically a “green” speed bump that generates electrical energy when vehicles drive over it.

The device operates by virtue of a series of articulated plates set in a pad that is practically flush to the road. When a vehicle’s weight is exerted on these plates, they are moved up and down by means of a special mechanism which drives a generator capable of producing AC or DC current.

The generator’s output will vary according to the frequency and weight of traffic, but in general terms, it is capable of producing between 5 and 10kW of energy.

Each ramp is covered with a hardwearing elastromeric membrane to avoid any problems with vehicles gripping or skidding when crossing the ramp, and to seal the mechanism from the ingress of dirt, water, and anything else which may harm the mechanism.

Unlike a conventional speed bump, the Electro-Kinetic Road Ramp is not hard, and has a damping effect to avoid causing discomfort to vehicle occupants.

This “sleeping policeman” - what the English have nicknamed speed bumps - can be used for generating electricity to power street lighting, traffic lights, or road signs. Electricity can also be stored in a battery for later use.

Highway Energy Systems, a research company in the United Kingdom that developed the Electro-Kinetic Road Ramp, says the device not only produces green energy, it is free energy, once the capital cost of the equipment has been paid.

A pilot program using the ramps is set to begin soon in London.

Depending on the outcome of the testing, it might not be that long before green speed bumps start showing up across the US.

Much of the revolutionary technology we enjoy today evolved from America’s space program. Over the years, the program has transferred a wide variety of space technologies to other applications, as diverse as noninvasive tests that detect cardiovascular disease, lithium batteries for electric vehicles, and space age swimsuits that significantly reduce skin friction drag.

You may be interested to know that 94% of gold medals in swimming at the 2008 Olympics were won in such swimsuits.

Yet, we tend to take technology for granted. Consider truck design.

It was in the 1970s when researchers at the Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, began conducting numerous tests to refine the shape of trucks to reduce aerodynamic drag and improve efficiency.

Already working on the effects of drag and wind resistance on different kinds of aircraft and the early space shuttle designs, the researcher transferred their considerable knowledge to the design of large trucks.

Aerospace Engineer Edwin J Saltzman and his team found that rounding a tractor’s edges, placing a smooth fairing on its roof, and extending the sides back to the trailer could cut drag by more than 50%, increase highway fuel economy by more than 20%, and help with vehicle handling.

Assuming a typical truck drives 100,000 miles annually, these modifications translated to fuel savings of more than 6,000 gallons per year per vehicle.

The research revolutionized truck design. The modifications the engineers tested have now been widely adopted around the world.

Now, this technology is being recognized by the Space Foundation - one of the world’s premier non-profit organizations supporting space activities, professionals, and education.

Next month, a more efficient truck cab design will be inducted into the Space Technology Hall of Fame during the 25th National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

I wondered why Saltzman decided to investigate truck design in the first place.

I discovered he was motivated while bicycling through the California desert. He noticed the push and pull of large trucks at highway speeds while riding to work.

As a tractor trailer overtook him, he first felt the bow wave of air pushing him slightly away from the road and toward the sagebrush. Then, as the truck swept past, its wake had the opposite effect, drawing him toward the road and even causing him and his bike to lean toward the lane.

This got him exploring the flow of air around a moving truck.

Learning Saltzman’s story brings to mind the quote: “Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why.

I’m far from the brightest guy in the world, but even I know what a “Caution: Low Clearance” sign indicates.

My assumption would be that truck drivers have this knowledge as well.

Such isn’t the case, as evidenced by a video I came across while doing some research online. The video focuses on an underpass that flattens the tops of a number of trucks as they barrel through.

Could it be that the drivers are distracted and don’t see the low clearance signs? Do they not understand what such signs indicate?

Perhaps they don’t believe that all signage is correct?

This wondrous video can be found by clicking here.

This is one of those things that will have you shaking your head in amazement.

The other evening I was visiting with a bunch of trucking industry veterans. Among other things, we took an historical “talk” through the industry’s history, commenting on milestones and highlights.

After a while, one of the vets said: “Let’s have a little contest to see who knows the most trucking history and trivia.” We all thought that was a splendid idea. “And to make things interesting,” he suggested, “let’s throw a couple of bucks into the pot. The brightest one among us takes it all.”

We all chipped in (never mind how many of us there were, or how much we anted up), and the contest was on.

It was a lot more interesting, educational, and challenging than I expected. I’m proud to state: I ranked in the top three.

How would you do? Here are a few of the questions. The answers follow.

1. What are “idiot buttons?”

2. Who purchased Detroit Diesel in 1987?

3. Where and when did Ford open its Kentucky Truck Plant?

4. What did truckers nickname Peterbilt’s aerodynamic Model 372 cabover? Bonus-point question: When was the tractor introduced?

5. Oscar Mayer placed its first Wienermobile - a hot dog shaped vehicle - into service in what year?

Answers:

1. Driver slang for those raised markers that rumble when run over to alert drivers to hazards, crossing lanes, and so forth.

2. Roger Penske.

3. Louisville, 1969.

4. “Winnebago” and “Football Helmet,” 1988.

5. 1936.