The Use of Running Recorders
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OME drivers object to the use of running recorders on their vehicles. In certain cases this may be for the reason that they have a feeling of guilt because of spending excessive time at • either authorized or unauthorized stops, which loss may frequently be made up by over-fast running between them.
On the other hand, men of good character and punctilious in operation are sometimes inclined to feel that the fitting of such instruments in their vehicles shows at least some degree of lack of confidence in their integrity.
A good driver should not worry. A check of this kind is no more a slight upon him than in the case of the factory or office worker who clocks in and out or is checked as to his hours by a timekeeper. It is often necessary or, at least advisable, in operating road transport to ascertain running times, and without a host of, inspectors there is no practicable method except the use of a suitable recorder. It is noralways necessary to keep this instrument on a vehicle during all the time the latter is in use; it can be transferred from one to the other, as occasion warrants, and thus a picture of the conditions gradually built up.
If a driver and his vehicle be kept unduly long at loading or unloading points, the recorder constitutes an immediate proof and thus saves the man from unwarranted suspicion, thereby becoming his friend rather than his critic.
• The accurate analysis of operation may even stand a driver in good stead when there is trouble with the police. Such a case recently occurred in America, when a driver was stopped by the police on the suspicion that his vehicle had killed a child. Witnesses had stated that the vehicle which had left the scene of the accident without stopping was painted red, and this particular driver's vehicle was finished in the same colour. It so happened, however, that a recording device was in operation, and this indicated to the satisfaction of the authorities that the vehicle had been stopped while the driver was having a meal during the time of the fatality. The man was, consequently, allowed to proceed without further inquiry.
• Operators have an obvious right to know as much as possible regarding the usage of their vehicles._ Not only are these costly in themselves, but they often carry exceedingly valuable loads. Consequently owners are justified in feeling doubtful as to the " road-worthiness " of any driver • who objects strongly to the fitting of a recorder on his vehicle.