back to article Brits are world's most wired drivers, says fleet tracker CEO

The United Kingdom's roads are so bad that the nation has become the world's strongest adopter of fleet management technology, says to TJ Chung, CEO of logisitics software-as-a-service (SaaS) outfit Navman Wireless. Navman Wireless carved itself out of parent company Navman, which specialises in hardware. The spin out is more …

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  1. unitron
    Coat

    Most wired drivers?

    When I saw the headline I thought it referred to caffeine and amphetamines.

    Mine's the one with the bottle of No-Doz pills in the pocket and bottle of Mountain Dew with which to wash them down.

    1. NorthernCoder
      Coat

      Re: Most wired drivers?

      My first thought was

      "Most wired"? -> Highly strung

      Mine's the one with the half-pint thermos mug of espresso.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Every day my business was plagued by emails from RAM Tracking. Spy in the cab, check on your employees?

    What ever happened to trust and a bit of give an take?

    Emails finally stopped when I began to invoice them £10 for the time it took to deal with each email.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Friday Afternoon Reminder

      I know everyone's winding down for the weekend but I just thought a nice friendly reminder would be useful:

      The word and has a letter D on the end of it.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Headmaster

        Re: Friday Afternoon Reminder

        "The word and has a letter D on the end of it."

        No, it has a letter d on the end of it. Or did you mean "The word anD has a letter D on the end of it." ?

        Footnote: I think the combination of ." ? at the end of that last sentence may be a high risk gamble on my part when posting as a pedantic grammar nazi. The exciting life I lead.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not surprising since it was a UK company which invented the telematics "spy in the cab" market - I used to work for the inventor Minorplanet Systems from Leeds.

    That company could have been the 100lb gorilla in the global market if it wasn't for the original management driving it into the ground.

    1. aawelj
      Paris Hilton

      100lb is a bit weedy for a gorilla, surely?

      Paris, because she loves the wildlife and the icon has a question mark.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "100lb is a bit weedy for a gorilla, surely?"

        Alright, they could have been the 100lb chimp of telematics. Or maybe if they weren't too active, the 100lb sloth.

    2. JonoClouds

      Back in 1995 I did some embedded firmware as a contractor at a marvellous little company called Oakrange Engineering. They had started out doing tacho servicing, then expanded into what they called Black Boxes for trucks. The product did everything that is claimed in the article, even in 1995. We even used the then almost unheard-of Small Message Service to send messages to a display in the driver's cab. Yes, the same service that is now (ab)used 100s of times a day by gossiping teenagers who like to call it "texting" and think that they are all modern and very, very clever..

      The system did indeed monitor fuel consumption, rpm and braking. It could save clients significant sums in time, fuel and vehicle wear. Perhaps if "professional" drivers used their vehicles efficiently, without needless harsh braking, long periods of unnecessary idling and so on then they would not find themselves resenting what they call a spy in the cab.

      Oakrange Engineering was run by a truly smashing MD (he did not adopt the pompous Americanism "CEO"), it is one of my enduring regrets that he was unable to expand the business and enjoy greater success today. He was just too nice to see off the bullies that don't care who they destroy.

  4. codejunky Silver badge

    Not a shock

    Our roads are aweful. No matter how high tax's get they never seem to fix anything. I was surprised that the vast number of pot holes and road damage I travelled over daily was only repaired when the coalition got in power after labour had spent everything. Makes me wonder what they were doing with the constantly increasing tax's.

    1. Lusty

      Re: Not a shock

      @Codejunky your pot hole problem is a local council issue and nothing to do with the coalition. If you have problems with roads complain to the council, if they do nothing then vote for the other person at the next local election.

      1. James Hughes 1

        Re: Not a shock

        Need a pothole filled?

        http://www.fillthathole.org.uk/

        When I used it, the hole was filled within a few days. That may have been coincidence, or maybe not...

        In my neck of the woods (Cambs Fens) the roads are, well, something to behold. You can spend quite a bit of time repairing suspension and springs unless you drive 'sensibly'.

        1. Zimmer

          Re: Not a shock--- so report it...

          I believe that once a pot hole ( or other serious road defect) is reported to the appropriate authority then any damage suffered as a result of it could be claimed from the appropriate authority. Once reported it is their responsibility.

          A case in point was a hole at the junction of our street that was reported and subsequently collapsed under the weight of a passing car ( a drain beneath had partially collapsed allowing water to wash away the road from beneath). The car did not 'pass' and cost over a £1000 to fix.. It is no wonder councils are quick to pour a few ha'porth of tar in a pothole, once it is reported.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Not a shock--- so report it...

            "I believe that once a pot hole ( or other serious road defect) is reported to the appropriate authority then any damage suffered as a result of it could be claimed from the appropriate authority. Once reported it is their responsibility."

            That's correct, but some councils like the vermin of Warwickshire County Council expect you to prove that the pothole has been reported in order to make a claim. Unless you happen to know that, they tell you to sod off. Or rather WCC pay some scumbag law firm to tell you to sod off.

        2. Don Jefe
          Unhappy

          Re: Not a shock

          To me having a local council fix a bad spot in a road seems like a great idea (assuming they respond to reported issues).

          Here in the US secondary roads are usually owned by the county but maintenance is mostly done with Federal tax dollars on a far looking schedule. That means there isn't much money to fix spot problems. Occasionally they're addressed, depending on State and county, but generally they aren't.

          Everything is put off until the Federal funds for the pre-scheduled maintenance of a section are released. Which is kind of OK as it keeps the big crews of eight trucks and 15 workers from having to drive all over the place to fix every pot hole (don't know why they need so many). But it also sucks as perfectly fine sections of road are repaved because their turn is up on the schedule and there's no latitude with the spend. It has to be used according to the maintenance schedule that was created ages in the past when traffic patterns were different and the viability of various paving materials wasn't yet known.

          I guess that's standard US government though. Fix what's not broken and ignore the problems.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Not a shock

        "

        @Codejunky your pot hole problem is a local council issue and nothing to do with the coalition. If you have problems with roads complain to the council, if they do nothing then vote for the other person at the next local election."

        It depends..

        If the road's "trunk" then the maintenance is the responsibility of the Highways Agency (England) or Traffic Wales/Scotland as appropriate. They usually sub it out either to the council or a private contractor. If the responsible authority doesn't want to spend the cash on a road there's sod all a council can do.

        If the road's not trunk and is simply primary/secondary A road, B road or unclassified, then they are the responsibility of the local council. You can usually tell because the local councillors have been pushing for speed humps/chicanes and 20mph speed limits...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Not a shock

      would be almost worth paying more tax if it meant the cops would tase people into spelling properly.

  5. Michael Shaw

    Its not pot holes

    I'm convinced that Sheffield's roads are not in a poor state of repair, its that the local council has innovated with Braille road signs embedded in the tarmac to assist our local MP on his rounds. For those that don't know, Sheffield currently has two infamous MP's. Nick Clegg, who betrayed most of his electorate in his heavily student populated constituency by pairing up with his Tory overlords and increasing tuition fees for university. The other one, David Blind-git, who's only saving grace is that his guide dog has on occasion walked him into lamp posts. We keep hoping, but its not knocked any sense into him yet!

  6. MrT
    Megaphone

    "Brits are world's most wired drivers..."

    ... judging by the amount of them seen with devices plonked haphazardly across the centre of the windscreen, right in the way of their view, often lighting the inside of the car when it gets dark because they haven't found out how to set it to night mode.

  7. A J Stiles

    World full of nails!

    ..... says hammer salesperson.

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