Spray From Lorries – A Thing Of The Past?

The UK is renowned for its unfailing rain and with so many trucks on the roads every day it can be quite difficult for drivers to see in these conditions due to the amount of spray coming from them. This has been made worse by the increase of new drivers on the roads and new companies using lorries and HGV vehicles.

Well, a revolutionary type of mud flap could put a stop to all of this. According to the company behind this new technology, it can be easily fitted to trucks and could lessen the spray produced by lorries by more than 40 per cent. In addition, it could reduce drag and other benefits include an improvement in economy of 2.3 per cent.

These flaps use a series of vertical vanes which are designed to separate droplets of water and air that make up spray clouds that blur vision. Water hits the collecting pockets and falls to the ground whilst the air avoids the pockets and falls on the other side of the flap.

A test made by the Transport Research Laboratory revealed that a driver following a truck at 56mph, the motorway limit for trucks, with the new flaps will have a 35-43 per cent increase in visibility. This compared to visibility in the same conditions behind a truck with normal mud flaps.

These newly developed mud flaps could help to reduce accidents in severe rain conditions due to improved visibility. In turn, these safety measures could help to reduce your Lorry and HGV insurance premiums.