Did you know that London bus drivers are not allowed to reverse their buses? If they get into a jam they can either go forward or just stop until the specially trained driver comes from the depot.
This may sound mad, but almost 25% of "vehicle at work fatalities" come as a result of reversing manoeuvres. This figure is from an article in 'Baltic Briefing,' the Journal of the Baltic Exchange, on Chris Hanson-Abbott (Tr 1947) who was responsible for discovering and marketing the bleepers which signal that a lorry is reversing. You can read the article here.
Hanson-Abbott was on a business trip to Japan in 1976 and heard a lorry bleeping as it reversed. He tracked down the inventor to a small factory in the countryside and bought 50 units to market in the UK. The rest is history. His firm, Brigade Electronics, now sells much more than simple reversing bleepers.
I wonder if they invented the hideous things they have on the recycling collecting trucks in the London Borough of Haringey, which have recorded voice saying "Danger! Vehicle reversing!" over and over again.
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