pickup trucks grow, [but] safety features don’t grow along with them. It’s… crucial that trucks offer features like pedestrian detection, blind spot warnings, and automatic braking — but at this point, those things remain optional for most trucks.”Article contentran an article entitled “Pickup trucks would be safer with standard emergency braking says IIHS [Insurance Institute for Highway Safety].
After I tweeted my dismay about the Toronto cyclist and the increasing danger of hood heights on our roads, a reader from Sudbury contacted me. Gary Belanger, a retired heavy equipment mechanic with over 30 years of experience in the mining sector, messaged me and simply said, “This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.This required a phone call. Belanger had recently gone from his 2005 GMC Sierra to a 2020 Sierra Elevation.
There are lots of aftermarket fixes. “All these front cameras you could integrate through apps and things, they wanted US$650. There are private companies, too.” But when your nickname is McGary, that’s not what you do. Belanger went to Canadian Tire. “I spent 99 bucks for a camera and wired it to my fog light switch. It was easy to adapt the fuse. I press the fog light, and I have my front camera on.” He, too, believes alerts and auto braking should be standard on today’s pickups.
He sent me photos of his setup. The first is a demonstration of just how big the blind spot in front of his truck is. “If you squint…might see the top of the mums,” he told me for the next pic. A pot of chrysanthemums was perched on top of a propane tank, itself resting on an upturned metal garbage can. “Mini camera has sticky tape, fits in grill. No brainer…switched fog light fuse under the hood, and GMC has an accessory hole for extra wires at driver’s door hinge.
More than just his own truck, Gary Belanger has spent his life trying to keep workers in the mining industry safer. His ongoing goal? “I’ve told some politicians the need for highway dump trucks to have mandatory simple switches installed to prevent dump boxes from raising while driving — something that’s been used successfully underground for generations.
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