IRVINGTON, N.Y. — The original idea for the GiraffeG4 System came about when Frank Nugent saw a film crew measuring the distance to the ceiling with a laser to learn how much rope was needed to hang some curtains.
After college and before working in the film business as a production manager, Nugent drove a tractor-trailer for A&P Supermarkets, delivering groceries all around New York City.
He became personally familiar with the “low clearance” hazards that subway trestles provided: He hit one with his trailer.
Over the next few years, Nugent and his son, Brian, developed the GiraffeG4 System to alert drivers if their rigs won’t fit under a bridge or overhang.
Neither were trained as electrical, mechanical or sound engineers, so they hired freelance engineers and did all of the on-the-street testing themselves — under the subway trestles and tunnels around New York City.
Laser measuring was ruled out as it wouldn’t work outdoors in sunlight.
Sound waves were the key. They are weatherproof and hardy, and a sensor could send a signal up and back to a subway steel beam.
Timing the trip the waves took could tell them the exact height of the “low clearance” hazard.
If the height of the steel beam was 12-feet, 9-inches, a 12-foot, 6-inch truck would fit, no guessing. Eighteen months and three U.S. patents later, the GiraffeG4 System was ready to go.
It was marketed to truckers and recreational vehicles and sold well.
To use the system, drivers pull the tow vehicle up to the “low clearance” hazard, measure it and continue to measure as they travel under the hazard.
“Drivers told us it would be great if the GiraffeG4 could warn them of the potential ‘low clearance’ hazard before they reached it,” a news releases states. “Trucking Fleets wanted to keep driver distraction to a minimum, the fleet telematics screen had to be the hub for driver information.”
With this information, the GiraffeG4 team decided to upgrade the original GiraffeG4 to the new GiraffeG4 Sentinel System.
Utilizing the original weatherproof sound wave system, the new GiraffeG4 Sentinel was developed so that it is now a two-part System — a tracking app and a user app.
On the first day, the tracking app can pre-measure and GPS locate any potential “low clearance” hazard, whether it’s a bridge, trestle, parking garage or tree. That information is downloaded onto a database.
On the second day, the user app uses that recorded height and GPS data to alert a driver with an alarm and height sign, 200 yards before they reach the hazard ahead.
The GiraffeG4 Sentinel System has been built to integrate smoothly into any fleet telematics system and provide their clients with “low clearance” protection they don’t have now.
“The GiraffeG4 Sentinel System is not a navigation tool — it is a safety tool that follows underneath the route the driver is on and provides an audible warning to any distracted, or tired or lost driver,” according to the news release.
The GiraffeG4 Sentinel Staff has already pre-measured and GPS located all the potential “low clearance” hazards in New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Milwaukee, Connecticut and Philadelphia.
Plus, the Sentinel User App has an audible alarm at the entrance to every parkway in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts, where commercial vehicles are prohibited.
Born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and raised in East Texas, John Worthen returned to his home state to attend college in 1998 and decided to make his life in The Natural State. Worthen is a 20-year veteran of the journalism industry and has covered just about every topic there is. He has a passion for writing and telling stories. He has worked as a beat reporter and bureau chief for a statewide newspaper and as managing editor of a regional newspaper in Arkansas. Additionally, Worthen has been a prolific freelance journalist for two decades, and has been published in several travel magazines and on travel websites.
