A spotter is a person used in vehicle maneuvers to assist a driver who may not have a clear view in their direction of travel. They are most commonly used in:
* Off-road
rock crawling
Rock crawling is an extreme form of Off-roading, off-road driving using specialized vehicles ranging from stock to highly modified, to overcome obstacles. In rock crawling, drivers typically drive highly modified four-wheel-drive vehicles such ...
* Reversing truck and trailer combinations, such as semitrailers, b-trains and
road train
A road train, also known as a land train or long combination vehicle (LCV) is a semi-trailer used to move road freight more efficiently than single-trailer semi-trailers. It consists of one semi-trailer or more connected together with or wit ...
s
* Placing oversized freight using a
forklift
A forklift (also called industrial truck, lift truck, jitney, hi-lo, fork truck, fork hoist, and forklift truck) is a powered industrial truck used to lift and move materials over short distances. The forklift was developed in the early 20th c ...
* Lifting loads using a vehicle-mounted crane (loads lifted using a fixed crane are supervised by a
banksman)
* Guiding military vehicles (also called ''ground guiding'')
* Dumping materials, such as from a dump truck
* Guiding oversized loads.
The spotter's advantage is the ability to move around the load or vehicle to determine the best trajectory.
A spotter will either use a set of standard hand signals, or will agree hand signals before the maneuver with the driver or operator.
Technological solutions such as
reversing cameras and proximity sensors have reduced drivers' reliance on spotters in some circumstances.
References
Driving techniques
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