Guest Post by Eric Peters
America is slowing down. How long before it stops entirely?
Literally stops?
A reader who is a commercial driver wrote to tell me about how his work vehicle is monitored and controlled via the saaaaaaaaafety tech that is coming soon to your garage and may already be there, just waiting to be fully enabled.
His work van “fusses” at him for”hard cornering, idling too long, hard acceleration and hard braking.” And – of course – for not wearing his seatbelt, even for a moment.
It actually does more than “fuss” at him.
It narcs him out to his employer for accelerating or braking or cornering in a manner considered by the onboard nanny to be too “hard” for its tastes. Which means, paralytically hypercautious. Imagine a paranoid 95-year-old with trifocals, encoded and embedded in your vehicle.
My reader describes “weekly beratings” by the fleet manager of his company about drivers’ “scores” – which are calculated based upon the driver’s mindless adherence to every traffic law and the onboard nanny’s programming parameters regarding the quickness of his vehicle’s movements.
Or rather, their lack.
The slower, the better – ipso facto.
And so, the drivers do. Slow down. What choice do they have? The onboard granny nanny is the mobile equivalent of the cube farm Human Resources frau who will have your job if her always-cocked ear should hear an off-color comment or even an innocent malaprop – the malaprop defined by the triggered aggrieved. One must walk on eggshells at work – and drive as though there were an egg under the accelerator (and brake) pedal while working.
For the same reason.
My correspondent explains: “I used to drive with the flow of traffic” (which of course means he was “speeding,” since everyone, just about, drives at least a couple of miles-per-hour faster than the invariably ridiculous and always arbitrary speed limit) “ . . . but now have to be the asshole going too slow for conditions. I also now have to turn into parking lots, etc., at the speed of” (here it comes) “a 95-year-old Florida” retiree – which means stopping in the road before turning off the road, among other things.
“I feel my safety (the real thing) is in danger despite this being sold as saaaaaaaaaaaafety equipment,” he adds. “I am in danger of being rear-ended now” – as well as an early death from the soul-crushing misery of it, he might have added.
“You should warn others that a ‘work vehicle’ may now be limited” – because closely monitored by the GPS Granny Nanny – “and the driver neutered to drive like a robot.”
Indeed. A very slow robot.
You may have seen such vehicles – emblazoned with placards proudly touting that “safety is my priority” and that the vehicle’s speed (and other such) are being monitored.
Note the resignation and defeat on the face of the meatsack behind the wheel.
“Driving was one of the reasons I loved my job,” my reader writes. “I’ve always had an affinity towards driving. I still own a 1990 Miata (supercharged) that I’ve had for 18 years. I’ve been ‘driving’ since I had my first bicycle. I loved going everywhere and enjoying the ride in between. The joy of driving has been taken away from me. I drive 5k miles per month on average and the last 5k have been miserable. Watching the speedo like a hawk is akin to reading text messages constantly. The naturalness of driving has been subverted to trying to not get in trouble. My eyes are less on the road now than they were when looking far out ahead for the cop sitting on the side of the road – because the cop is now riding shotgun with me.” 
My reader concludes with something insightful:
“I feel this is being forced on us to make our driving behavior so intolerable to others that they acquiesce to future demands for self-driving vehicles.”
Indeed, again.
Create a problem, then offer the solution. A generation of idiot-proofing cars has created a pool of idiot drivers. The (manufactured) Problem.
Solution? Take the driver out of the equation – on the presumption of everyone being an idiot. Then make the now-automated vehicles – not just the commercial ones, yours and mine, too – drive idiotically.
Trifocals and Depends for all!
This will, of course, create new Problems – including a slow-motion society (and economy) in which less and less gets done and what does get done gets done torturously. There is a reason why Vodka was the national beverage of the old Soviet Union and partaken of regularly.
It took the edge off.
All of this is due to the Safety Cult, which obsesses about “risk” in the same way that ‘50s McCarythism obsessed about communism,with an interesting correlation: Risk-obsession will have the same effect as formal communism. We will no longer control anything but rather be controlled – in the interests of Our Safety rather than the Proletariat.
But the dictatorship feels pretty much the same.
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Employers are responsible for the safety of their employees. Employees will do hideously stupid things. Hideously stupid things inevitably cost money. I am all for requiring drivers that work for me to behave exactly as I say re how fast, etc., they drive. If they do not like it, they can fuck off.
It is my truck or van. I am paying the driver. I carry virtually all of the risk should something go wrong, particularly if it can be shown I tolerated the driver going too fast, driving dangerously, etc.
If Peters is happy to assume those type risks personally, or via his employees if he has any (doubtful, given his position on this stuff), go for it. But as an employer, I am not.
The thing about making anything idiot proof is that idiots are so damn ingenious. But you have to try. Running a business is often about setting up systems that cater to the lowest common denominator – in other words, you have to set up systems that cater to the dumbest or least competent worker you have.
LLPOH
That doesn’t even make sense…idiots are so damn ingenious? People use the talents/smarts in different ways is all. Just sayin.
Donkey – no matter how idiot proof you make something, idiots will still find a way to fuck it up. That is what the saying means, Anyone who has ever been responsible for employees knows it to be true.
Agreed there is always someone willing to be a bigger idiot. But I will add that catering to them makes it miserable for those who aren’t. I’ve been on both sides of that. You’ve got to be at least as ingenious as the idiots in getting rid of them, or better not hiring them.
I get it but an ingenious person is not an idiot.
in·gen·ious
/inˈjēnyəs/
adjective
(of a person) clever, original, and inventive.
If you keep records AND tolerated you are in jeopardy vs no records (driver freedom). You cannot “tolerate bad drivers” if there are no records. I know more bad drivers are the ones that drive under the saaaaftey rules than the ones going with the flow. The 9ld ladies obeying every rule cause road mayhem.
Personally i am fed up with 18 wheelers going less than speed limit in left lane. Then when they finally move and u drive by flipping them off they go 90….asshats.
Fine, sir. Problem is that Mngmnt also overloads the Schedule 20%. (Don’t ask – I’ve done the Math inside out/ upside down so many times…). The logic escapes all. However, we’re in ParaTransit & those who care/ sign up for/ take pride in caring for Crippled Retards will (check the Myers-Briggs) bust their butt to give them top service, which is consistently well documented on CSS (Client Satisfaction Surveys). In short, Mngmnt sets us up for failure – very carefully/ the Union is helpless against it: Mngmnt is scrupulous, (to the point of lying) that ‘No Driver has ever been disciplined for running late.’ Mngmnt then reduces Dispatch to a skeleton, while requiring that many decisions must be approved by Dispatch.
Basic Psych 101 here re: Driver emotions/ guilt/ etc. – you can Arrive Mrs. Wong on the edge of late, if you don’t take Lunch/ (a Safety Break/ omitting = Disciplinary Offence.) Getting permission to postpone Lunch = calculate 10 minutes. Thus we are late, regardless, for Mrs. Wong. Dispatch may tell her that Pick-Up is delayed 30 minutes (the Lunch Break, unpaid). An obvious lie – parking a 10 ft tall bus downtown takes – well, call it 10 minutes (that’s unrealistically short) & we must wash up, Dr. style – peel off rubber gloves is revoltingly inadequate – we wheel Clients in diapers in wheelchairs that ain’t never been washed out of Care Facilities with Skull & Crossbones “Either flu shot or Respirator – no Entry otherwise – we prefer no entry at all.”
The same Driver will likely get Mrs. Wong after Lunch – she/ walker/crutches will have been standing (yes, vertical – no seat) at Walmart door/ we are prohibited from searching for her beyond the Door Threshold. To recap time: we promised 12:30 to 13:00, we arrive 12:55 (so she’s been waiting since 12:25) = 30 min. 10 min wait for Dispatch permission to miss lunch. 10 min park bus. 10 min find Washroom/ walk, wait/ wash/ return to bus to push”Lunch” computer button, use our own time for ‘find food/ sit somewhere.’ Crippled Mrs. Wong now vertical at door for 60 minutes.
Eat lunch (30), get bus from storage (10), Arrive Client at 100 minute point, GPS recorded every 500 yards/ 60 seconds.
‘Hideously stupid things inevitably cost money.’ Correct: Mngmnt decides, taxpayers pay.
‘I am all for requiring drivers that work for me to behave exactly as I say’: Correct: we respect your instructions flawlessly.
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So what happened before they loaded vehicles with Government imposed, Chinese-made tracking electronics? Now what happens with vehicles equipped with all of the electronic shit? People still drive like morons, and the van or truck costs a lot more to buy, and a whole lot more to repair and maintain.
As someone who once had control of a large fleet of 18 wheelers I disagree with the level of control on new vehicles. Speed was never a problem with our company and accidents were usually the result of rapidly changing road conditions. A skilled driver does not need any computer assists. Just look at how well the latest assist worked on a 737 aircraft.
better – mumbo-jumbo for the common-sensory stoopidarians
No one speeds anymore. They all drive like npc drones.
Totally agree. People are literally afraid to exceed the limit by 1 mph. Like some “laser beam” with blow them up if they do.
The worst thing about it – is that they’re OBLIVIOUS to the line of traffic behind them. No desire to let the faster people go (this is on single lane roads). What assholes.
The typical habit of drivers in NJ is to exceed the posted speed limit by at least 10-20mph on a regular basis. Yes, I drive NJ local, on the TurdPike, and the DorkWay, too. It’s a regular occurrence in a state with too many people.
Going 30-35mph in a 25mph limit? Some late-rising asshole will always be there trying to stuff himself up your tailpipe, wanting to go faster. Going 70? Someone always going 85 or 90. Bet on it. The better roads allow it but the poorly maintained roads will beat the shit outta you AND your car, but it doesn’t deter the assholes.
I oughta know, I’m a reluctant resident who has to be on the road before the sun comes up. Is there a schoolbus making frequent local stops? You’ll see the red light runners and the instant assholes come out of the woodwork. One of the luckless ones who managed to get caught ended up in traffic court where I was a witness. He got several points off his license and $330 in court costs for his trouble.
So if anyone has problems with GPS Nannyshit and rising insurance rates remember the assholes and illegals are driving with you.
Why?
Because some government prick likes the “Being a Statist Asshole” policy because assholes provide them revenue for your “safety”.
I admit, I use my cruise control all the time. I put about 25-30 thousand miles a year on my cars. I hate getting pulled over by cops. I literally feel like my life is in their hands the entire time I am pulled over. I hate that shit with a passion.
Set your cruise 7mph over and just drive and you will never be pulled over.
If you drive down Route 52 in Southern Ohio, the cops in Hanging Rock, OH, will write you a ticket for going 1 mph over the speed limit. I use it every time I go through there. Cruise control was one of the best car innovations ever, and it’s a shame people still don’t use it. I hate it when I’m cruising down the highway and the idiot who just passed me slows down to where I have to either tap the brakes and slow down or speed up and pass them- again and again
McCarthy “obsessed” about Communism because he had access to the decrypted Soviet diplomatic cables, code-named Venona, that identified Communist agents in the Pentagon and State Dept. Joseph McCarthy was an American hero. Stop repeating traitorous Democrat slanders.
The more driverless cars the more cameras to spy on everyone. Once its made illegal to drive ones self the govt and creepy tech companys will own you.
Fuck remote controlled driverless cars. I wouldn’t own one.
There’s too much needless electronic gadgetry aboard them now.
You think they’d sell those to the public? LOL!
People must realize that the whole purpose of all of this Government electronic tracking, smog, and safety shit is to make vehicles so damned expensive to buy and impossible to affordably maintain is to get YOU off the road. They now are not shy at all in telling us this. They don’t give a flying fuck about anyone and their daily life.
I never liked the vehicle alarm for my seat belt and the auto door lock is really annoying . I am the operator of the vehicle , I am held accountable for what does or does not take place during the time I operate said vehicle .
Doing a part time delivery gig for a national company has been an eye opening experience as to the general attention paid by a large number of people operating vehicles on today’s roads . The company has made it clear in an unusual manner what’s expected of their drivers . They only hire retired men & women to do 2 or 3 days per week and one person manages the schedule to keep things orginized . The company has discovered that there are very few issues because they hire responsible experienced people who show up and complete tasks in a calm orginized manner . The management also live in the real world regarding drive times , from 7AM to 9AM a delivery round trip takes more than double the time that it takes from 9:30AM to 3PM unless it’s a government worker holiday LOL
War is a social purgative. Not ‘police action’ or little ‘conflicts’ here and there. The innate human need to control the actions of others, without responsibility to those others, is allowed to grow unchecked through government in extended times of peace and prosperity.
The obvious, though unstated goal of government throughout western civilization is control of every aspect of the human behavior of we whom are subject to these governments.
I am actually looking foreward to a full implementation of this technology. Nothing would make me happier than hacking a system and parking every god damned government vehicle. For a price you could turn off all the cop cars as you drove off in your 83 reliant k car.