Taking the load to drive safe

Red Forge's range of axle-load indication systems is proving a popular choice among councils looking to boost health and safety for their vehicle fleets


Ashfield District Council has taken delivery of seven Renault Masters fitted with Red Forge’s Limitlite Plus system. This monitors gross vehicle weight and individual axle weights, and also provides a warning when the vehicle is approaching, or exceeds, its plated weights.

As many light commercial vehicles perform multi-drop operations, or collect items of unknown weight, it is often impossible for the driver to know how much he can carry. Every year the percentage of vehicles issued with prohibitions for overloading increases, demonstrating that VOSA are extremely capable of identifying who the regular offenders are.

David White, transport manager at Ashfield, says: “We now fit Limitlite Plus to all of our light commercials. It allows us to keep the driver informed of what load he is carrying, which protects him from driving overloaded. With regard to health and safety it is one less thing to worry about”.

Red Forge claims Limitlite Plus is rapidly becoming the industry standard across council and private operator fleets, as awareness improves with regard to the dangers of overloading. Suitable for almost any vehicle up to 8.2 tonnes GVW, the system can also be fitted with an external strobe or siren to alert the driver while he is loading.

White adds: “We have had many of our fleet vehicles fitted with Red Forge systems, from LCVs up to, and including, a couple of four-axle Seddon RCVs.”

Exeter Council has also specified the new units. “We already have many Red Forge units installed, and are very happy with the new systems,” says Hadyn Davies, fleet manager at Exeter. “We have a number of units installed on the cleansing vehicles and the parks and open spaces vehicles. To coin a phrase ‘It does what it says on the tin’.”

For larger vehicles, the same protection can be found in the form of Red Forge’s Axalert 20/20. The 20/20 also has a memory function, capacity for a printer, and the ability to stop the packing plate on RCVs at a given weight.

Haydn adds: “Most of the on-board protection systems I buy are from Red Forge, mainly because it is easy to use, the drivers and supervisors all like it, and we get good service.”

All the Red Forge axle-load indication systems are available with a link-up to telematics systems for remote monitoring from the depot, which can be configured to send text messages or emails to the relevant persons in the event of an overload. This has proven extremely popular within the utilities industries, as the large number of vehicles involved makes logistics extremely difficult.

Phil Bridge, sales office manager at Red Forge, states: “We have now dealt with many of the major players in the telematics industry. Over time I believe you will see a marked increase in the use of telematics systems that are able to provide additional information, such as that provided by our systems. It gives the fleet manager a simple overview of his vehicles at the touch of a button.”

Red Forge

www.redforge.co.uk

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