DRIVING WITH THE SIDEWINDER
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Driving through town centres such as Craigavon, where heavy vehicles encounter pedestrian traffic, Sidewinder can provide significant safety benefits. Despite being longer, the highly responsive steering geometry allows the vehicle to easily clear footpaths and small roundabouts where on occasion standard 16.5m combinations have difficulty. Our drive revealed that the 15.65m requires no more room than a standard trailer. In addition, on many of the more difficult corners, the longer combination becomes neater and quicker, requiring less room because its rear-steer enables the trailer to go around the corner rather than move crab-like across the apex.
Reversing some conventional rear-steers has on occasion highlighted various problems. We found reversing this combination effortless, as the manoeuvre is in effect being assisted, and the trailer moves easier and quicker with less drag than standard units.