Road speed limiters
Page 28
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I READ with interest your article concerning road speed limiters (CM, April 14), but there are a couple of points regarding Fidus Controls systems which need clarification.
Veeder Root were involved with Fidus for a limited period only and all marketing rights were regained by the end of 1981.
The paragraph regarding the method of speed sensing utilised by both Econocruise and Lucas Kienzle, that of the output provided by the electronic tachograph, implied that Fidus had fallen behind and was still using the speed sensing probe from the gearbox to propshaft flange bolts.
We have actually been using the output provided by the C3 contact on the Lucas Kienzle Electronic and the Veeder Root equivalent since they became available, thereby removing the most abused part of our system, ie the speed sensing probe, which incidentally we have used in conjunction with our electronic speedometers for many years on passenger transport vehicles with very few problems indeed.
We now offer the customer three options on the method of speed sensing as follows: (i) direct from an electronic tachograph (ii) sensing from a Lucas Kienzle probe (iii) sensing from a Fidus proximity probe.
The majority of our customers choose (1) from both a security and ease of installation view. This method can reduce the cost of a kit to £240 on air throttle arrangements, with the most expensive kit costing under £300.
The electronics are designed in such a manner that any unauthorised tampering will cause the system to fail into the limiting condition.
To date, we have sold in excess of 6,000 kits and are specified as the first choice for a number of large transport fleets and currently the only supplier for a European original equipment manufacturer importing dangerous goods vehicles into France, which require a limiting device to be fitted as standard, under current legislation.
Fidus are not standing still and never have. We have developed a number of electronic systems over the past six years in conjunction with BL, British Rail and the police authorities.
We will be announcing a cruise control option with our road speed limiter in the very near future and we are aiming to keep the cost to under £300 for a complete kit.
J. R. TURNBULL Sales Executive Fidus Controls Milton Keynes
Missing out the union viewpoint
WITH reference to the reports (CM April 21) entitled Nine-hour day gains itself friends and TGWU card in a storm, I am not aware of the meeting your reporter refers to, but it is certainly not the meetings I attended.
The last meeting of the trade unions was held on April 4 and I can assure you that the trade unions reaffirmed their opposition to the commission's proposed amendments.
It would be an advantage if your article on the drivers' hours and rest period regulations did convey the trade union views as well as others.
The second article by Jack Semple is not a balanced report regarding that Conference; of course, being a democratic organisation representatives can, and do, express stronglyheld opinions, but these do not necessarily represent a collective view. It was, and still is, the basis of good reporting, to contact a senior official such as Larry Smith, who had the responsibility to hold the Conference, than to tout around for individual comments thereby distorting a situation.
Last but not least, your Editorial Optional legislation — this I would fully support for national journeys as it would meet national interests. However, the Community's obsession with international journeys blinds it to national road transport operation requirements and, in particular, the acute need for legislation to be understandable, workable and enforceable.
The latest proposal would make the situation even more complex and less enforceable. JACK ASHWELL National Secretary RTC Transport and General Workers' Union Smith Square, London SW1
Clarifying the Japanese picture
CONCERNING the report entitled Japan to take over OAF? (CM, April 14), I would wish to emphasise the following points: 1, Linking the names of Daf and/or Enasa with a possible Japanese partner was not a prediction or forecast but part of a single scenario, that is, one of a number of "pictures" of the possible future state of the motor industry. These different views were constructed as bases from which to draw tentative conclusions as to the future performance and profitability of the motor industry as a whole, and it is misleading to extract one element of one "picture" and imply that it is an inevitable future development.
2, The Motor Industry Research Unit is convinced that some form of inwards investment by the Japanese into the European commercial vehicle sector is inevitable, being the simplest means by which those manufacturers can gain a viable portion of the European commercial vehicle market. We needed to include this factor, and its consequences, into our assessment of the future profitability of the industry as a whole; we selected Daf and Enasa almost at random as potential avenues through which this investment could be applied.
If Commercial Motor had made these facts clear in its article then a lot of unnecessary misunderstanding might have been avoided.
The use of a sensationalist headline was not mitigated by the question mark which concluded it; our book is a serious report about the future prospects of one of Europe's most important industries, and we would have appreciated a more restrained tone to the article.
Although the journalist responsible for the article had spoken briefly to me about the report, I do not feel that his piece really reflected our intentions. He clearly had not had time to read the report, and his consequent failure to grasp even the most basic implications of our analysis was therefore inevitable.
I am sure that those directly and indirectly involved with all aspects of the motor industry would give more credence to the articles contained in Commercial Motor if they could be sure that they were written from a position of authority. On this occasion, unfortunately, this was clearly not the case. PROFESSOR K. N. BHASKAR Head of Accountancy and Finance University of East Anglia Norwich