Lafarge Canada wants to rat on you for speeding.

[16hypen3sp]

Edmonton Journal is reporting that the concrete company Lafarge Canada wants to be involved with tackling "speeders." Looks like Edmonton may be the first place where they allow such a thing.


Lafarge Canada volunteered its slow-moving concrete trucks as pace cars Friday in Edmonton’s push to reduce speeding and traffic fatalities.

But the partnership could go further, said Bruce Willmer, regional vice-president for Lafarge Canada, after addressing city councillors on traffic safety Friday. The company’s next step is to install forward and back-facing cameras in its trucks, connected to its on-board GPS.

If someone speeds dangerously past a truck equipped like that, the data could be turned over to enforcement, he said. “Those are the sorts of things we would look at, yes. … We’ve just started talking to the city and we’ll see where it goes.”

Lafarge Canada has 60 drivers and 100 trucks in the Edmonton area navigating around sometimes unpredictable children on bikes and regular traffic. In January 2016, one was involved in a fatal pedestrian collision, killing a 49-year-old woman in a downtown Edmonton crosswalk. That wasn’t the first for Lafarge in Canada.

The company installed GPS on all its trucks in 2015, and rolled out a driver-feedback program in 2016. Now it requires drivers to roll 10 km/h under the speed limit and avoid hard braking, fast accelerating or high-speed turns.

The system gives drivers and their bosses real-time alerts to let the company coach its drivers. That gives “better fuel economy, less maintenance and less risk without affecting trip times,” said Willmer.

“What we found is that it really hasn’t affected our delivery times or cost,” said Willmer, since trucks stop often in urban situations anyway.

Willmer also asked councillors to help with an education campaign for cyclists and pedestrians. “We can do everything we can to wrap the truck in plastic, but we still need to make sure children and people crossing crosswalks understand that they’re not always seen.”

Councillors embraced the idea of working with Lafarge Canada and asked city officials to explore what that means.


http://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/lafarge-canada-cement-trucks-could-be-pace-cars-extra-eyes-on-speeders

[Inzane]

Talk about misplaced priorities and a poorly thought out plan.

[swak]

ughh... just what we need... more photo radar/surveillance enforcement on everything we do in our cars.
But any publicity is good publicity amirite? :dunno:

[btimbit]

What an awful idea

[Sugarphreak]

...

[Type_S1]

I would like to see them lose business over this...bunch of rats.

[swak]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak
What a bunch of fucking ass clowns... here is an idea, focus on being a concrete product and delivery company instead of playing captain vigilante in traffic

Going forward I am actively going to start looking at alternatives for Lafarge products to specify

Inland Lehigh anyone?? :bigpimp:

[Tik-Tok]

If someone speeds dangerously past a truck equipped like that, the data could be turned over to enforcement, he said. “Those are the sorts of things we would look at, yes. … We’ve just started talking to the city and we’ll see where it goes.”


So if I pass a slow moving concrete truck as quick as I can as to alleviate the safety concerns of being in the opposing traffic lane (in a passing zone on a highway), they'll rat on me? Good work Lafarge.

[HiTempguy1]

I don't even...

No really. Those words are the response I can come up with. I don't even:

Know how to respond
Know what to think of this
Understand how a company ceo gets to have this mindset

I mean, who in the HELL does he think he is? Complete loss of words. 1984 is real afterall, when private corporations start colluding with government to punish its citizens.

Like what in the actual f&$k? Am i the only one alarmed about this??

[JRSC00LUDE]

How can this possibly even be being considered, yet alone legal? If vigilantism is being allowed now, where does it end? Jesus fuck.

[lilmira]

k boys, let's learn from the PR nightmares from other companies lately. What do you got Jimmy? yadayadayada

[Buster]

A bunch of concrete guys squeeling to the cops. Oh the irony.

[J-hop]

Originally posted by Buster
A bunch of concrete guys squeeling to the cops. Oh the irony.

I wouldn't put the blame on the front end guys. I don't think they want gps monitoring in their trucks anymore than we want this garbage.

[JRSC00LUDE]

Nanny State and surveillance really are getting out of control and if it doesn't concern you, you're part of the problem with society.

There's going to be one hell of an uprising one year if this trend continues too long term.

[max_boost]

Driving in Calgary confuses the fk out of me sometimes. When I pass someone I can feel the power of the force like that person wants to kill me. Maybe it's just me but the amount of road rage I witness here is nuts. Do people need to get out more or Calgary is just the worst? :nut:

Driving down the narrow roads in other countries for example, the trucks in front of you will signal right to let you know it's safe to pass them. I thought to myself, that's fantastic. On busy roads it's organized chaos, no one blocking you into the lane, etc. No one calling the cops because you cut them off haha

Anyway yes I know I can gtfo if I don't like this place and go back home.

[Antonito]

Which is worse PR, this or the parent company funding ISIS? Might be a tie lol

[schocker]

Hmmm

Now it requires drivers to roll 10 km/h under the speed limit and avoid hard braking, fast accelerating or high-speed turns.
That sounds like something one might want to speed past :rofl:

[heavyD]

Taken right out the Earls book of ingenious business decision making.

[swak]

Originally posted by schocker
Hmmm

That sounds like something one might want to speed past :rofl:

hahahaha imagine how frustrating that must be as a driver for Lafarge too, driving 10kph under everywhere you go.. :dunno:

[speedog]

You people are hilarious. This is pretty much a non-issue if it goes through as I can usually count on one finger how many times I see a LaFarge truck on the streets in Calgary in my daily travels and often it will be in an area where no passing is allowed anyway and the speed limit is 50kph.

Besides that, I will assume y'all are smart enough to adjust your driving habits for where the red light/speed-on-green cameras are - well, these LaFarge trucks should be even more obvious than camera on a pole. Another factor to consider here, how likely is it that video or photo evidence from concrete truck will even be admissible in court - how would anyone know what your speed is as the only reference would be road markings or stationary objects and I highly doubt the GPS devices in these trucks are going to calibrated as often as EPS' radar and lidar units as that speed would be the base from which any charge could started from.

Next thing you know we'll be getting speeding tickets in the mail based on Calgary's Bluetooth traffic monitoring system - ya know the estimated time/distance signs on Deerfoot and elsewhere.

[speedog]

Originally posted by swak


hahahaha imagine how frustrating that must be as a driver for Lafarge too, driving 10kph under everywhere you go.. :dunno:

If they're getting paid hourly, what do they care then. Back in the mid-80's I did a short stint locating cables for TELUS northwest of Edmonton and after learning the hard way that only so many jobs doled out to anyone for an 8 hour shift, I started driving 10kph under the limit as there was just not a rush to get anywhere. I would move over when it was safe to do so for anyone who was in a hurry to get by me but for the most part I was on rural highways and roads with very little traffic so that wasn't even an issue.

[Sugarphreak]

...

[revelations]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak


So you sandbagged your job by impeding traffic on the road?

Normally I'd give you a hard time, but I suspect you are just trolling at this point. This sounds uncharacteristic of a member who literally has "speed" as part of his user name

Same here as Brad - I used to work for Enmax and it was NEVER a rush to get anywhere (unless an urgent call came in).

Id have to remind some of my coworkers to get out of the fast lane on DeerFoot as they were holding up traffic .... :rofl:

[speedog]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak


So you sandbagged your job by impeding traffic on the road?

Normally I'd give you a hard time, but I suspect you are just trolling at this point. This sounds uncharacteristic of a member who literally has "speed" as part of his user name

Not trolling and if you actually read my post you'd see that I wasn't impeding anyone where I was driving and the speed in my nickname is not at all related to how fast I go.

And btw, there was no sandbagging - I tried to get more jobs assigned to me but AGT had very specific rules set by management and no one was gong to bend them. So drive a bit slower I did, stopped once in awhile to watch wildlife and put extra care and attention to the little orange flags and orange paint I was placing to indicate where telephone cables were running. Now it has to be noted that this was in the pre-GPS equipped TELUS vehicle days, things are most likely different now. There was no point in hurrying as I was out of town being put up in a hotel and well, it was Edmonton. There were even some days that I would finish up my assigned work by 1PM and would just pull off at the end of a dead end gravel road and have a snooze - what was the difference of having a snooze there or back at the hotel.

Try harder. :love:

[swak]

Originally posted by speedog


If they're getting paid hourly, what do they care then. Back in the mid-80's I did a short stint locating cables for TELUS northwest of Edmonton and after learning the hard way that only so many jobs doled out to anyone for an 8 hour shift, I started driving 10kph under the limit as there was just not a rush to get anywhere. I would move over when it was safe to do so for anyone who was in a hurry to get by me but for the most part I was on rural highways and roads with very little traffic so that wasn't even an issue.

I got paid by the hour at a job where I was on the road for a company as well. There was no rush, but consciously felt there was an expectation of me to do the best job i could for the company i was with... While it was easily doable, it meant not f-ing the dog driving around anywhere i could. I assume this same mindset would be the same as Lafarge truck drivers... This is the reason people get speeding tickets.... Is there a rush to get to your dinner reservation or job site as a concrete truck? Maybe not... But people want to do a good job at the end of the day, taking pride in their work and trying to do a good job.
Doesn't justify speeding at all... im not justifying that... But i can empathize with a driver who could be frustrated for having to drive around 10 kph under the speed limit everywhere they go.

[J-hop]

Originally posted by speedog
You people are hilarious. This is pretty much a non-issue if it goes through as I can usually count on one finger how many times I see a LaFarge truck on the streets in Calgary in my daily travels and often it will be in an area where no passing is allowed anyway and the speed limit is 50kph.



Well you might have a pretty big chance of getting a ticket through this as you don't seem very observant. I see lafarge cement trucks all the time :dunno:

[speedog]

Originally posted by swak


I got paid by the hour at a job where I was on the road for a company as well. There was no rush, but consciously felt there was an expectation of me to do the best job i could for the company i was with... While it was easily doable, it meant not f-ing the dog driving around anywhere i could. I assume this same mindset would be the same as Lafarge truck drivers... This is the reason people get speeding tickets.... Is there a rush to get to your dinner reservation or job site as a concrete truck? Maybe not... But people want to do a good job at the end of the day, taking pride in their work and trying to do a good job.
Doesn't justify speeding at all... im not justifying that... But i can empathize with a driver who could be frustrated for having to drive around 10 kph under the speed limit everywhere they go.

Doing 40 in a 50kph zoned residential area is probably no big deal for these drivers as stopping a loaded concrete truck isn't done quickly and probably a good lot of them drive a bit slower than the posted residential speed limits juts to give themselves a bit more of a stopping cushion.

Also, I believe all of the LaFarge drivers are unionized so obeying a company rule such as this likely plays well intro such a system for many drivers.

[speedog]

Originally posted by J-hop


Well you might have a pretty big chance of getting a ticket through this as you don't seem very observant. I see lafarge cement trucks all the time :dunno:

A ticket for what? Not observing enough LaFarge trucks? Not passing them where I'm not legally allowed to? Not speeding when passing them where it is legal to do so?

Help me out here.

[revelations]

BTW for any one wondering, there is almost no chance of a simple speeding conviction from these trucks.

They have no way of knowing your actual speed without a trained member observing or performing math - using reference points (eg. pavement markers) in the video.

The intent is to catch stupid and moronic maneuvers that put everyone at risk of injury.

If you pass one of these things going 10 over, under normal conditions, there is almost zero chance that anything will become of it.

If you pass one of these guys stopped at a x-walk, while going 40 over and talking on your phone, there is a good chance the video will be sent the EPS traffic guys.

[J-hop]

Originally posted by speedog


A ticket for what? Not observing enough LaFarge trucks? Not passing them where I'm not legally allowed to? Not speeding when passing them where it is legal to do so?

Help me out here.


This whole post you are talking about tickets, adjusting your driving habits etc around these apparently obvious trucks that you never see yet are everywhere in Calgary :rofl:




Originally posted by speedog
You people are hilarious. This is pretty much a non-issue if it goes through as I can usually count on one finger how many times I see a LaFarge truck on the streets in Calgary in my daily travels and often it will be in an area where no passing is allowed anyway and the speed limit is 50kph.

Besides that, I will assume y'all are smart enough to adjust your driving habits for where the red light/speed-on-green cameras are - well, these LaFarge trucks should be even more obvious than camera on a pole. Another factor to consider here, how likely is it that video or photo evidence from concrete truck will even be admissible in court - how would anyone know what your speed is as the only reference would be road markings or stationary objects and I highly doubt the GPS devices in these trucks are going to calibrated as often as EPS' radar and lidar units as that speed would be the base from which any charge could started from.

Next thing you know we'll be getting speeding tickets in the mail based on Calgary's Bluetooth traffic monitoring system - ya know the estimated time/distance signs on Deerfoot and elsewhere.

[btimbit]

The fact that a concrete company thinks it's their business to police traffic is my issue, yeah it's easy to see their trucks, that doesn't change the fact that they're a concrete business not peace officers.

Pretty much what you should expect from the French. Damn land burning communist surrender monkeys

[speedog]

Originally posted by J-hop



This whole post you are talking about tickets, adjusting your driving habits etc around these apparently obvious trucks that you never see yet are everywhere in Calgary :rofl:





You still haven't stated what you'd think I should get a ticket for unless I'm having a major brain fart and am misunderstanding what you meant by 'you might have a pretty big chance of getting a ticket through this as you don't seem very observant'.

[J-hop]

Originally posted by speedog


You still haven't stated what you'd think I should get a ticket for unless I'm having a major brain fart and am misunderstanding what you meant by 'you might have a pretty big chance of getting a ticket through this as you don't seem very observant'.

Whatever ticket you were worried about having to modify your driving around these trucks for.....

You: yo it's like not an issue, I never see them and I'm smart enough to modify my driving around them so I don't have to worry about getting a ticket

Me: I see them everywhere so chances are you are missing them and might get a ticket if this is actually implemented and used for tickets.

You: what ticket? What are you talking about? Please explain, I have no clue what you are referring to?

Me:....????


Just busting your balls man

[Amysicle]

.

[speedog]

Originally posted by J-hop


Whatever ticket you were worried about having to modify your driving around these trucks for.....

You: yo it's like not an issue, I never see them and I'm smart enough to modify my driving around them so I don't have to worry about getting a ticket

Me: I see them everywhere so chances are you are missing them and might get a ticket if this is actually implemented and used for tickets.

You: what ticket? What are you talking about? Please explain, I have no clue what you are referring to?

Me:....????


Just busting your balls man

A misunderstanding as I am not worried about getting a ticket while around any Lafarge truck.

[revelations]

Originally posted by Amysicle

If that were the case, why are they offering up their resources as "pace cars"? :dunno:

Its a corporate PR win/win. Their drivers drive with more care and present the APPEARANCE of making a difference with exemplary driving.

[FraserB]

Originally posted by revelations


Its a corporate PR win/win. Their drivers drive with more care and present the APPEARANCE of making a difference with exemplary driving.

Unless you piss off the people who have the ability to influence decisions on where materials are sourced from. If you have designers who look for alternatives​ to LaFarge products and coordinators/PMs who source from other companies, you wind up losing money.

[max_boost]

Originally posted by revelations

The intent is to catch stupid and moronic maneuvers that put everyone at risk of injury.

They always start out with that reasoning and then it expands into something more when they realize they can make some good $$$ from it. Anyway will see what happens from it.

[revelations]

Lafarge is not the EPS - if they wanted to issue tickets to the 100s of vehicles that slightly speed and pass them every day, they would need to hire on an EPS traffic member to analyze each video clip and make a determination and/or estimation of the speed of the vehicle.

Many of these would be BS tickets then as there would not always be a realistic way to calculate and estimate speed within a margin of error that is reasonable (eg. +-15kph).

I could also take the evidence to court and claim reasonable doubt with regards to the playback speed of the video, etc.

In other words, completely unrealistic for the minor speeders (eg 10 over) but feasible for the clowns going 40 over, for eg.

[speedog]

Originally posted by FraserB


Unless you piss off the people who have the ability to influence decisions on where materials are sourced from. If you have designers who look for alternatives​ to LaFarge products and coordinators/PMs who source from other companies, you wind up losing money.

Kind of like that oh so successful 'don't buy gas on this day so we can teach those fuel companies a lesson', eh.

[Sugarphreak]

...

[zhao]

Originally posted by speedog


Kind of like that oh so successful 'don't buy gas on this day so we can teach those fuel companies a lesson', eh.

^ I know eh?

I remember Earls didn't lose any sales for saying they were buying beef south of the border.

Jacknbox was totally unaffected by killing a bunch of people from tainted meat.

Toyota didn't lose a dime in sales from people claiming their cars accelerated for no reason too.

Pissing off people has never had a negative impact on businesses.

[theken]

I work at lafarge as a driver. I haven't heard of this yet as I've been off for the winter. I don't think it is what you guys think it is, but I can't tell you how many times I have been dangerously passed, and I don't mean by a guy doing 120 in a 100, I mean I'm doing 70 and someone will drive up the ending shoulder to pass then slam on brakes to stop for the light, or swerve over last second to get in front of the que while I'm stopping a 47,000kg truck. I don't see the cameras doing anything but providing us proof when we hit a fucking asshole that does something stupid and blames us. I don't know what Edmonton does, but I assume being a pace vehicle is just that they will know that lafarge is doing exactly 90 in a 100.

And on the whole 10 under thing, it is fine for me on major roads, but there is some 50 zones by our yard that should be 80s (by heather glen golf course) that are tough to hold that 40, but in general any residential I was doing 30-40 anyways as people pull out from anywhere. Glenmore sucks doing 70, and I feel bad on single lane roads, but in general it's pretty relaxing driving slower.

[Nismorphed]

Lafarge can smd

[FraserB]

Originally posted by theken
I work at lafarge as a driver. I haven't heard of this yet as I've been off for the winter. I don't think it is what you guys think it is, but I can't tell you how many times I have been dangerously passed, and I don't mean by a guy doing 120 in a 100, I mean I'm doing 70 and someone will drive up the ending shoulder to pass then slam on brakes to stop for the light, or swerve over last second to get in front of the que while I'm stopping a 47,000kg truck. I don't see the cameras doing anything but providing us proof when we hit a fucking asshole that does something stupid and blames us. I don't know what Edmonton does, but I assume being a pace vehicle is just that they will know that lafarge is doing exactly 90 in a 100.

And on the whole 10 under thing, it is fine for me on major roads, but there is some 50 zones by our yard that should be 80s (by heather glen golf course) that are tough to hold that 40, but in general any residential I was doing 30-40 anyways as people pull out from anywhere. Glenmore sucks doing 70, and I feel bad on single lane roads, but in general it's pretty relaxing driving slower.

They could have instituted a 10kph under the limit policy and installed cameras without the ridiculous press releases.

For some reason, they feel the need to make it known that they plan to act as scouts for the police and as "pace cars" to slow traffic. What this would gain them is somewhat mysterious.

[OTown]

Originally posted by FraserB


They could have instituted a 10kph under the limit policy and installed cameras without the ridiculous press releases.

For some reason, they feel the need to make it known that they plan to act as scouts for the police and as "pace cars" to slow traffic. What this would gain them is somewhat mysterious.

Less collisions, lower insurance, less rehab and sick time from injuries, less mechanical downtime from crashed trucks... The list goes on. So maybe the better question is what could they lose?

[HiTempguy1]

If those things were an issue, which they aren't. Lafarge trucks would have to be getting in accidents all the time for those to be concerns. And spoiler alert, the 47k kg truck WINS everytime. Everyone on the road is insured, so its not like the money comes out of their pockets or their rates are affected if not-at-fault.

So in short, a whole pile of bullshit. The CEO of lafarge is an asshole busybody who is stereotypical "wont someone think of the children" idiot.

[Hallowed_point]

Originally posted by heavyD
Taken right out the Earls book of ingenious business decision making.

:thumbsdow Totally. Haven't eaten at an Earl's since.

[Seth1968]

Originally posted by Hallowed_point


:thumbsdow Totally. Haven't eaten at an Earl's since.

The crazy thing, someone who makes the decisions at Earls, actually thought this was a good idea. Well, they did, so how about just asking the customers if they would prefer mandatory tipping? Of course, the answer would have been a resounding, "Fuck NO!", and that would have avoided all that fucktardery.

[revelations]

Originally posted by HiTempguy1
If those things were an issue, which they aren't. Lafarge trucks would have to be getting in accidents all the time for those to be concerns. And spoiler alert, the 47k kg truck WINS everytime. Everyone on the road is insured, so its not like the money comes out of their pockets or their rates are affected if not-at-fault.

So in short, a whole pile of bullshit. The CEO of lafarge is an asshole busybody who is stereotypical "wont someone think of the children" idiot.

Im sure the council in Edmonton has ninnies (like Druh Farrel?) to even be considering this idea.

[Hallowed_point]

Originally posted by Seth1968
The crazy thing, someone who makes the decisions at Earls, actually thought this was a good idea. Well, they did, so how about just asking the customers if they would prefer mandatory tipping? Of course, the answer would have been a resounding, "Fuck NO!", and that would have avoided all that fucktardery.

Poor leadership, I'm sure plenty of people told the ceo that it was a very bad move prior to him rolling it out. So now you have stubborn people like me whom will never go to an Earl's again.

[ZenOps]

As soon as you get about 15% of the cars on the road being driverless or driver assisted, speeding will become practically impossible.

As there will be not only cameras visually watching you from those cars - but better than human accuracy GPS and radio frequency acceleration and speed measuring one hundred times per second.

So I guess the moral of the story is: Speed now while you can still get away with it, because its going away in the future for sure.