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Don't fence me in
Page 22
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YOU HAVE TO stop and wonder sometimes whether the powers that be credit us drivers with even an ounce of sense. First we get the likes of cruise control and automatic gear boxes that seem to be saying "we don't trust you at all".Then it's telematics and other spy-in-thecab monitoring systems that tell
the boss if you so much as stop and pick your nose on company time and then before you know it those techheads at Siemens have produced a gadget that seems to have reduced the driver's role to that of passive observer.
I am of course referring to the `geo-fencing' article (CM22April) that allows transport managers to control a truck's speed from the comfort of their plush offices.
You really have to question why they feel the need for technology like this — I feel it's almost an insult to our skills as drivers that they need to foist this sort of thing on to us.
I mean, it's pretty obvious to all but the most homicidal idiot that driving too fast past, say a school for example, is likely to result in a serious injury at the very least, ditto for speeding around a depot.
If someone can't recognize that then perhaps they ought to be considering alternative employment and leaving us professional drivers (see that little 'p' word — it does mean something to some people) to get on with a job we are more than competent at. Clive Tinsley Sheffield, S Yorks