Steve Mutter Posted May 29, 2010 Share Posted May 29, 2010 I have a fleet company that wants to put speed governors in there school buses, they have 30 trucks form the 2000 to 2008's, just want to know if anyone has found a good system to use and if you have any advice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Browning Posted May 29, 2010 Share Posted May 29, 2010 I would think the best (and probably the only) way to speed limit an electronically controlled diesel vehicle would be through the engine calibration. Probably the best solution would be to contact Ford Motor company first. I recall discussing this here in the past. I also suggest a little brainstorming on the actual practicality, safety and possible liability of limiting a vehicle's top speed as I am sure there are situations where doing so could have negative affects. There are fleet monitoring systems that will record a variety of vehicle data (including speed alarms) that could be valuable in managing maintenance on a fleet as well as keeping an eye on the operators. See the Diesel Mentor directory Electroincs category - there are several companies that offer this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted May 29, 2010 Share Posted May 29, 2010 I'm a little shy of speed governors (we are talking about responsible adult drivers here, right?) and, if it were my call to make, I would recommend "stool pigeons" over something (limiting speed) that could get a driver into deeper trouble than he/she is already in. At least this way, they should still have a driver that they can descipline and a bunch of kids that can return to school for another day. If they are having a big problem with speeding drivers, they should contact the local authorities and voice their concerns.... "spare the rod and spoil the driver"... making sure the LEOs exact the penalty that is due. FWIW, I work on the idea that a locked door will only ever keep an honest man honest. It wont keep a dishonest man out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Amacker Posted May 29, 2010 Share Posted May 29, 2010 I assume these are Ford bus chassis, Mutter? IH has RSL (Road Speed Limiting) settings easily changed with their diagnostic software. I have no problem setting it to whatever the management wants to limit their drivers to. I understand Jim's philosophy but it is obvious today's society is leaning towards more control rather than consequences. Management would rather put a governor on it than have to spend one cent in labor time tracking or dealing with a driver going over the speed mandated, not to mention the legal liabilities of an accident that occurred at an illegal speed. Many of my ambulances have in-cab cameras that operate at all times to monitor speed, driver reaction, and have a record of what happened during an accident, it keeps the drivers honest. Cleveland Police have something similar in patrol cars. Two cops were just busted this week and got a 6 month suspension for lying about what happened during a call. It turns out the car's GPS ratted on them about where they were, how long they were there, and how fast they were going. Shame, shame. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted May 29, 2010 Share Posted May 29, 2010 There are a lot of people that feel some of this stuff is infringing on their freedoms... I have been chastised in the past for thinking "if you aren't doing anything wrong....". There was a great hue and cry when people first found out about the recording ability of the RCM... As far as the cops are concerned... we do need to have some oversight into who's minding the henhouse. The people running the school buses should have the same abilities... But I don't feel that limiting the powertrains abilities are in anyones best interests... In cab cameras? With the number of people I see texting or having a cellphone glued to the side of their head.... this might be a good idea even in personal vehicles... Modern man isn't exactly my idea of where I saw the human race going. This might help some... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Browning Posted May 29, 2010 Share Posted May 29, 2010 I was more concerned with the fact that if you limit a vehicles speed, you are possibly limiting it's ability to avoid, maneuver, overtake or accelerate away from an incident as necessary and in some cases simply get the hell out of the way. Of course this is dependant on how tightly you want to limit the operator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted May 29, 2010 Share Posted May 29, 2010 Exactly.... as responsible adults, we should operate any machine (a car, truck or bs IS a machine, yes?) errrrr, responsibly... like adults.... Now.... there are two sides to this coin (and it does drag us away from Steves post)... Why can't we depend on the school bus drivers? Why do we feel the need to monitor them with this close of a scrutiny? (Not that I'm against it... human nature has disappointed my on more than one occasion... they call ME "fussy") If we all acted as responsible adults... the world would cahnge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Mutter Posted May 30, 2010 Author Share Posted May 30, 2010 all good points,I will tell them about the gps stuff but I don't think they want to spend the money as I don't think this company really wants to put speed goverors on there buses,they got bought out by I bigger company and this is there rule, so now they have to retrofit the buses with some kind of system, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Clayton Posted May 30, 2010 Share Posted May 30, 2010 Our local police department bought 10 T-birds back in the mid 90's to use as chase cars. They quickly realized that the cars were limited to around 100 mph. They wanted Ford to extended the cutout and were shot down promptly, due to the design of the vehicle and the fact that the tailshaft bushing would spin out and drop the driveshaft at speeds any higher. Too bad so sad. They had the same round robin with the Vic's traction control. It seems doing a 180 take down is pert near impossible with it enabled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted May 30, 2010 Share Posted May 30, 2010 How to wind up with a bunch of pissed off drivers, yeah? For myself? I don't mind having someone looking over my shoulder... when they reach out and control my movements is when we can get a bit tense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Amacker Posted May 31, 2010 Share Posted May 31, 2010 In this litigious (US) society, I fully understand why a fleet owner would want to impose speed limits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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