Deltion has recently developed and launched the CarrierNet Hazard Avoidance Routing Tool (C.H.A.R.T.) in response to increased interest from its customers.
There are many hazards on our roads of which hauliers have to be aware – low bridges, narrow roads, environmental zones, etc. By far the most common and costly hazard is the railway bridge strike. There are around 5 per day of these in the UK.
Research suggests that nearly half of lorry drivers surveyed (43%) admit to not measuring their vehicle before taking to the road and more than half (52%) do not take low bridges into account when driving. In research conducted by Network Rail, the most common cause of bridge strikes were driver ignorance of basic details:
32% of drivers don’t know the vehicle height
8% of drivers don’t believe signage
9% of drivers face inadequate signage
11% reported poor information about low bridges when planning a route
22% reported poor route planning
15% drivers did not understand signs
3% other
Bridge strikes cause major issues for all concerned – not just for operators who face financial losses, but also for commuters and general road users who face significant delays because of them. Each strike causes 2-hour delays on average for commuters and can result in long-term damage to structures. This year in Birmingham, Network Rail said repeated bridge strikes forced a road closure for nearly 5 months while repairs were made. Another example is in Peterborough where a railway bridge had to be closed for a year after being struck 12 times in 2019.
Well, the good news is that operators and regulatory bodies can C.H.A.R.T. their way to almost complete avoidance of bridge strikes and other hazards as of now.
C.H.A.R.T. comprises a Driver App coupled with an internet portal for management/regulatory bodies/customers accessed through their browsers. We’ll go into C.H.A.R.T. in detail in the coming weeks but for now here are just some of the highlights:
Helps drivers make better route making decisions as real-time ‘turn by turn’ routing and rerouting can be followed via the app. All drivers need do is confirm their details and those of the vehicle and C.H.A.R.T. will take care of everything else
Gives operators full control so they can manage transport ops better as well as have full transparency and documentation built-in
Communication with regulatory bodies will also be improved
Customers can check on progress of delivery journeys themselves, leading to better service and fewer queries for operators to handle
Scalable for any company – C.H.A.R.T. is not a one-size-fits-all solution: it can be tailored to suit any set of standard operating procedures
As we said, we’ll give in-depth details of the full benefits of C.H.A.R.T. in the coming weeks but if you would like more info right now, please contact please contact Bashir Khan – bashir.khan@deltion.co.uk