A former traffic officer has shared his advice for the safe placement of on-board tablets following a fatal incident in Auckland in June 2018.

An elderly woman was struck and killed by a truck on St Luke's Road and a coroner's verdict from earlier this month suggests the placement of the computer tablet was a significant obstruction to the driver's vision.

A photo, released by the Ministry of Justice, showed the tablet was placed on the windscreen directly in front of the driver's seat.

Chris L'Ecluse is a former police officer in the Western Australia crash investigations unit who reached out to SunLive following a coroner's report into the incident.

He is shocked to see the photograph depicting the location of the device during this incident.

'The placement of the device directly in the forward field of view of the driver is incomprehensible from a safety perspective,” he says.

'When we break it down, you have an individual who is meant to be in control of a large/heavy vehicle with limited visibility already, further restricting his/her vision by placing the device in this location.”

Former Western Australia crash investigation officer Chris L'Ecluse. Supplied photo.

Chris now works as a Solution, Safety and Compliance specialist with a GPS fleet navigation company and is advising on where best to locate tablets so as to avoid similar incidents, especially in heavy goods vehicles.

'Depending on the size of the screen, a location to the lower right hand corner of the windscreen when viewed from the driver's seat is often the most suitable location.

'However, this must be tempered with the fact that every vehicle has different designs to the windscreen angle, dash depth, and human factors such as height and body shape of the driver, seating height and distance to the steering wheel.

'Considerations must be made to ensure the placement does not adversely interfere with any critical vehicle control or safety systems such as steering articulation and airbag deployment.”

Another alternative, Chris says, could be the safe placement of the screen on a semi-rigid flexible metal arm hard-mounted to the side of the centre console.

Chris says he would like to see a national or international standard for the appropriate placement of screens in vehicles.

He believes this would largely 'eliminate confusion and enable compliance” from companies so as other incidents of this manner can be avoided.

But whilst with the incident in question the tablet proved a major hindrance to driver safety, Chris makes it clear that the proper installation of such a device can in fact be of benefit in keeping road users and pedestrians safe when compared to previous practices involving open maps.

'Screens should only be used when they aid in driver safety, not become a distraction,” he says.

'With the advent of screens, directions are both displayed on the screen closer to the eye level of the driver, as well as given as a voiceover to greatly assist the driver.

'Drivers must however avoid any interaction with the screen that is not directly related to the safe operation of the vehicle.

'For professional drivers, having a telematics screen that ensures fatigue management compliance, is an example of how technology, when used appropriately, can greatly aid safety on our roads.”