New Electronic High Visibility Panels keep roadside workers safer
Photo: Ford
Ford Motor Company continues to cement its standing as Europe’s commercial vehicle leader with innovation. One of the latest advances to come out of the Blue Oval is its Electronic High Visibility Panels offered on the Transit and Transit Custom. This new feature aims to improve safety for commercial drivers at nighttime and in other low-visibility situations.
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The panels feature bright red stripes that self-illuminate via a combination of electricity and phosphorus gas. Drivers need only flip a switch to activate the panels, making vans visible to other drivers even when their headlights are off. Ford hopes that the feature will come in handy for roadside workers in particular.
“Roadside working is a necessary and sometimes dangerous part of the job for many of our customers. We want to ensure that what is often essential work can be carried out as safely and effectively as possible,” said Ford of Europe’s chief program engineer of Special Vehicle Engineering, Simon Robinson. “Creating panels that can be illuminated without having to rely on other sources of light was literally a ‘light bulb’ moment.”
Light bulb moment! Ha! Dude’s got jokes.
Watch: Ford Electronic High Visibility Panels at work
Ford trialed the Electronic High Visibility Panels with Northumbiran Water Group out of the United Kingdom. Engineers monitored the effectiveness of the panels and determined whether they were beneficial, ultimately giving the innovation a big thumbs up.
As of now, Ford is only offering its Electronic High Visibility Panels in the U.K. The automaker is looking into bringing the technology into additional markets throughout Europe in the near future.
Illuminated panels also probably great for warding off monsters
Photo: Ford
Ford is Europe’s leading commercial vehicle brand for six years running. Last year, the company sold 203,074 Transit and Transit Custom vans combined across its traditional 20 European markets.
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Kyle S. Johnson lives in Cincinnati, a city known by many as “the Cincinnati of Southwest Ohio.” He enjoys professional wrestling, Halloween, and also other things. He has been writing for a while, and he plans to continue to write well into the future. See more articles by Kyle.
