Not a mobile phone - a LAPTOP!
- Thread starter ufkacbln
- Start date
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ACS
Legendary Member
- Location
- Just below the snow line
I follow a woman in a blue clio, most mornings, who puts on her make up while doing 50mph a long a narrow country road. If fact a couple of days back she was seen, not by me, doing her make up and chatting on the mobile.
Twenty Inch
Guru
- Location
- Behind a desk
I'm not sure the whole story has been told re: the driver with the laptop.
I used to work in fruit and veg. Many a time I've heard our Operations Director or Senior Buyer screaming "I don't care what it takes, get the fruit to me by 8am tomorrow for packing or we reject the lot" to a Spanish or Italian supplier. This inevitably meant some knackered driver being told to go out of hours and make sure the produce was delivered. The companies don't care as if the driver is stopped, he'll be sanctioned. The managers behind him who are telling him to deliver it on time or he'll lose his job, and the people behind them, are never in the firing line.
So while this driver undeniably killed people because he was checking his laptop, he may have been told that if he didn't check it, he'd lose his job. To me, that makes the managers culpable too.
I used to work in fruit and veg. Many a time I've heard our Operations Director or Senior Buyer screaming "I don't care what it takes, get the fruit to me by 8am tomorrow for packing or we reject the lot" to a Spanish or Italian supplier. This inevitably meant some knackered driver being told to go out of hours and make sure the produce was delivered. The companies don't care as if the driver is stopped, he'll be sanctioned. The managers behind him who are telling him to deliver it on time or he'll lose his job, and the people behind them, are never in the firing line.
So while this driver undeniably killed people because he was checking his laptop, he may have been told that if he didn't check it, he'd lose his job. To me, that makes the managers culpable too.
thomas
the tank engine
- Location
- Woking/Norwich
Around UNI tonnes off delivery van drivers are tapping away on a little PDA computer thing. They're not going fast, but fast enough to hurt someone.
Rhythm Thief
Legendary Member
- Location
- Ross on Wye
Twenty Inch said:
While I agree with the general point you're making, as far as I understand it they've just found a laptop in his cab. The driver claims he wasn't using it, the police say that it was in a position within the cab where it could be seen by the driver. Nothing has been proven either way yet.
thomas
the tank engine
- Location
- Woking/Norwich
Around UNI tonnes off delivery van drivers are tapping away on a little PDA computer thing. They're not going fast, but fast enough to hurt someone.
jonesy
Guru
Rhythm Thief said:
Leaving aside the specifics of this particular case, there is a general point about attitudes to safety in the haulage industry. Mobile phone use by lorry drivers seems to be a normal part of the job and I wouldn't be at all surprised if use of distracting IT equipment was also expected. This demonstrates a lack of proper enforcement: hauliers should be treated like any other business under health and safety rules and anyone encouraging their employees to use equipment dangerously should be closed down. I'm surprised more isn't done about mobile phone use as it ought to be quite easy to deal with hauliers, given that they are readily easily identified and have an O licence to lose. As they also have customers to lose, they'd quickly get the message if any driver spotted using a phone was pulled over, the vehicle impounded and the driver told to make his own way home.
John the Monkey
Frivolous Cyclist
- Location
- Crewe
I'm still reeling slightly from realising that I live in a country where killing 6 people whilst driving is careless, as opposed to dangerous in terms of law.
Rhythm Thief
Legendary Member
- Location
- Ross on Wye
Jonesy - I absolutely agree. I've worked for a few firms who have supplied me with a mobile phone with no hands free kit in the cab, and clearly expected me to answer it while driving.
Rhythm Thief
Legendary Member
- Location
- Ross on Wye
User3143 said:
I agree with this, too. I'd never go over my hours - apart from anything else, who wants to work for longer? - and I wouldn't work for long for anyone who expected me to.
Twenty Inch
Guru
- Location
- Behind a desk
Rhythm Thief said:
He was likely working for a Spanish company, which afaik has looser employment legislation, less HR protection, a more cavalier attitude to safety issues, and his employer probably has a lot of influence in the local labour market. Many parts of Spain are dependent on one key industry - fall out with one employer, you fall out with all of them. I'm only speaking from my experience living and working in Spain and with Spanish companies, but there are practises going on in some areas that are positively feudal.
Bad Company
Very Old Person
- Location
- East Anglia
Why is using a telephone while driving illegal but using CB radio is considered ok?
John the Monkey
Frivolous Cyclist
- Location
- Crewe
Bad Company said:
Well, using hands-free is legal, although some research shows that it makes you more likely to be involved in a collision. I'd hesitate to use the word "ok" in this context - I think "legal" would be a better term.
