News Release
For Immediate Release

Truck Driver Training Program to Demonstrate New Video Safety System

ROCK HILL—York Technical College's Professional Truck Driver Training program is  currently evaluating and field testing a new technology that could make the country's highways safer for all drivers. The new technology, called the BLIND-Zone Video System™, provides truck drivers with visibility into blind spots that conventional mirrors are not capable of providing.

The media is invited to attend a demonstration of the BLIND-Zone Video System™ on Wednesday, October 25, at 10 a.m. at the college's Wilson Street professional truck driver training facility.

York Technical College officials and representatives from Vehicle Enhancement Systems—the company that created BLIND-Zone Video System™—will be on hand to showcase the new technology and answer questions.

The BLIND-Zone Video System™ is  intended to perform and be used in much the same way as a mirror. Drivers glance at an LCD color display the same way they would a mirror. What makes this system unique is that the display has been designed to function as a completely automated system that can provide driver visibility into blind spots or manually on demand.

"The video technology is the wave of the future for tractor/trailer operation. The next logical step is to enhance the video screen with vehicle safety functions such as tire pressures," said Alan Lesesky,  president of Vehicle Enhancement Systems.

The BLIND-Zone Video System being field tested by York Technical College is specifically designed for the passenger side blind spot and can assist the driver while making wide right turns, thus avoiding the “squeeze play” type of accident. This same camera can also provide added visibility in the no-zone adjacent to the area next to the passenger lane and while backing. The passenger side camera may be automatically triggered by the right-turn signal.

The U.S. Department of Transportation and the American Automobile Association report that up to 75 percent of all truck-related car fatalities are attributed to an action by the car driver—and 35 percent of them occur in the blind spots around trucks. The American Trucking Association has implemented the Share the Road program to draw public attention to the four "no-zones" located around trucks and buses where a car can disappear from a driver’s view—on the passenger and driver side, rear and the front of the truck.

For many years Vehicle Enhancement Systems in Rock Hill has been an advocate and pioneer in advancing proven technology into the heavy-duty commercial truck market. Several years ago they recognized the many benefits of on-board video and how it could relate to solving the blind spot problem. This BLIND-Zone Video System was designed with Ron Silc from Fleet Electronics around the needs of the heavy-duty commercial truck market. The system will provide extreme utility value to the driver, performance, reliability, expandability and a rapid ROI for the fleet owner.

York Technical College's six-week professional truck driver program provides classroom instruction, yard/field maneuvers and behind-the-wheel/observation training. Topics include map reading, logs, trip planning, vehicle inspections and systems, DOT regulations, and safe operation of the CDL vehicles. Conventional and cab-over tractors provide hands-on training to enable clients to become proficient in the operation of CDL vehicles. Job placement assistance is available and, in many cases, students are conditionally pre-hired by motor carriers before they complete the program.

For more information about Wednesday's demonstration or the college's professional truck driver program, contact Jim Mroz at (803) 981-7140.

York Technical College . 452 S. Anderson Road . Rock Hill, SC 29730