Any individual who works as an owner driver in the delivery sector will eventually get extremely familiar with their van throughout the course of their employment. you are familiar with how it handles, you have gained a grasp of its potential, and you have gained an awareness of how it stops, turns, and accelerates. However, I have a question for you that is worth a million pounds: did you know that the distance covered by the brakes is affected when there is a bigger weight in the back? In theory, for the fifty percent of you who laughed and said, “Well, of course I knew that,” the other fifty percent of you took a little bit of a second take and said, “Whaaat?” The findings of a study that was conducted by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles came to the following conclusion, at the very least: It is estimated that roughly half of all van drivers are unaware of that one extremely significant fact. fact. For those who belong to the “other” half of the population, if you are employed by a huge corporation, you should be ashamed of your superiors for failing to provide you with sufficient training. On the other hand, if you are an owner driver who runs your own company, you are simultaneously a trainer, manager, marketing, and worker. This is not a bad thing, but it is important that you be aware of the following information. From this point forward, we are going to assume that you were not aware of the way in which payload influences vehicle performance. If this is the case, then we will return to the fundamentals. Simply said, the greater the weight of your cargo, the greater the distance that you must travel before you may stop. Volkswagen claims that their tests, which were conducted on their caddy, crafter, and transporter models, showed that there is a 36 percent increase in stopping distance between an empty van and one carrying a cargo of 500 kg when traveling at 30 miles per hour. According to the standards of any individual, this is a serious concern; but, for an owner driver who earns a profession by transporting cargo of varying sizes, weights, and shapes, it is a considerable consideration. During the tests, which were conducted at the Mira proving grounds in Nuneaton, the vehicles were driven at speeds of thirty and sixty miles per hour in order to replicate a wide variety of driving circumstances. We decided to go with a weight of 500 kilograms since it is the typical amount of weight that a vehicle would transport on a daily basis. The findings demonstrated that: • an increase in braking distance of 33 percent (with weight) is equivalent to about two meters at a speed of thirty miles per hour • with weight, the rise was around 19 percent, which is equivalent to five meters while traveling at 60 miles per hour. due to the significance of the highway code If you are an owner driver, it is your obligation to ensure that you are up-to-date and in compliance with the highway code. However, you should be aware that the values that are mentioned for stopping distances are based on a standard and do not take into consideration the weight of a cargo. While it is reasonable to suppose that you will not be able to memorize the effects that each and every conceivable cargo will have, the folks from Volkswagen have determined that the quantity of 500 kilograms is the average across the board, so this is a decent starting point. In light of the fact that your driving behavior is important when you take into account the daily loads that you bear as an owner driver, it is not difficult to understand that in order to maintain your safety, you need to alter your driving behavior appropriately. Inadequate braking, which might be the result of simple miscalculation or ignorance, is the root cause of a significant number of occurrences and even catastrophic accidents. Additionally, you need to make sure that everything in the rear of the van is properly secured, since the movement of objects while they are in transport may also be a factor in determining the stopping distances. Payload is not the only element that impacts stopping distances. It is the way of the future to have automated braking. At this time, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is the only manufacturer that has equipped all of its vehicles with automated emergency braking systems (aeb). On the other hand, considering that the technology has the potential to significantly cut down on the amount of accidents that occur in the United Kingdom, it is quite likely that it will soon become widespread and conventional. However, everything is up to you until that moment comes. If there is one thing that you take away from this text, it is this: the larger the weight, the greater the stopping distance. straightforward author plate In the sector of express freight exchange, Norman Dulwich is a correspondent for courier exchange, which is the biggest neutral trading center in the world for same-day owner driver employment. In order to cover vacant capacity, acquire new customers, and establish long-lasting commercial partnerships, the exchange facilitates the networking of more than 5,400 member organizations from all over the world.
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