In 2009, the troubles of truck drivers searching for medical facilities while traveling through Germany will come to an end. In the event of needing medical attention, drivers whose employers use map&guide digital maps will soon have all medical points marked on the map as so-called DocStops.
Planung Transport Verkehr (PTV) from Karlsruhe, Germany (owner of the map&guide brand), plans to include medical service points that professional drivers can use on its digital maps intended for road transport planning and management. This is all due to the cooperation between PTV and the DocStop für Europäer e. V. association, which began at the end of 2008. It assumes that subsequent versions of the map&guide professional and map&guide calculate road transport management and planning software will include DocStop locations. Such medical points in Germany are usually located at motorway exits or at service stations for heavy goods vehicles. According to Rainer Bernickel, a European official dealing with road safety and the initiator of organizing DocStops along major roads in Germany, such medical points will allow drivers, if necessary, to seek medical help after first safely parking their vehicle in a truck parking area.
–In this way, not only route planning but also the working conditions of drivers will be optimized. Such a medical assistance system will also improve road safety – claims Rainer Bernickel.
The creation of such a medical assistance system had been considered for a very long time. Further ignoring the need for medical assistance for heavy goods vehicle drivers would mean a lack of responsibility for other road users as well. Thus, the idea of creating the DocStop project was born, facilitating access to medical care for professional drivers. To implement it, the DocStop association was formed, which began its activities in July 2007. The principle of such a medical assistance point is that the doctors on duty serving at DocStops must live no more than 4 km away from them in order to provide assistance to drivers at any time. Currently, there are 250 DocStops operating in Germany. From 2009, the initiative will be expanded to other European countries.
PTV supports this project by including DocStop locations in map&guide brand maps, which support route planning and transport management. If a driver of a vehicle equipped with map&guide software feels ill, they can contact the dispatch center of the transport company where they work and ask for information on where the nearest DocStop is located. The map&guide software allows the dispatcher to immediately find such a medical assistance point. A printout of the route map with marked DocStops can also be given to the driver before setting off on a route, so they know where they can use a doctor’s services. DocStops will be included in the map&guide Professional and map&guide calculate software in the first quarter of 2009.