I've always thought their main purpose was for security, I'm guessing you're not in/near a big city or a place with a lot of drug addicts... I usually see partitions on windowless contractor vans that also have locks like these on the rear and side door:
http://www.americanvan.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/M/L/ML-001_3.jpg For some of the local dark fiber operators that have field technicians with advanced OTDRs, DWDM optical spectrum analyers and ribbon fusion splicers there could easily be $50,000 of equipment and tools in the back of an E250 van. On Wed, Sep 28, 2016 at 4:11 PM, Ken Hohhof <[email protected]> wrote: > Is there any legal or insurance requirement to have one of these? I hate > them, and while I understand they are to prevent decapitation by a flying > object from the cargo area, I can’t recall ever having such a flying object. > > > > I like having a rear window on the van for visibility, and even with a > backup camera and sideview mirrors, being able to see out the back is nice. > > > > Are there other advantages to them? I guess the AC and heater might work > better if isolated from the cargo space. I’ve seen claims it makes the > cabin quieter, but anytime I’ve driven a van with a partition, there has > been an annoying rattle from the door to the back. I could maybe see if > you could put some shelving units up against the back of the partition. > That might even make a van with dual sliding side doors viable. >
