What would you do if you saw a truck coming your way without anyone at the wheel? If you happen to be French, chances are, you already know. The French government has ordered surveillance of truck drivers for three months to ensure that such reported incidents are not true and drivers keep their eyes on the road, not magazines or TV screens.
Reports and eye-witnesses say that when the traffic is not dense, long-distance truck drivers set the vehicle on cruise control while they read, watch a DVD or play games. The drivers have evolved an effective way of ‘driving by the ear’ for their li’l indulgence, after setting the vehicle on cruise control, the right wheels are placed on the band that marks the edge of the hard shoulder. These bands are meant to create a noise that alerts sleepy drivers if they begin to stray from the road, now, these also let truck drivers ‘drive by the ear’.
French Government was initially skeptical of such reports, but truck drivers soon confirmed to the public radio network that they had seen driver’s read while driving, but playing video games ‘would seem a bit difficult to do’. Another thing pissing off maintenance workers is that the drivers are reluctant towards pitstops. Instead, they prefer to urinate into bottles and throw them out of windows, to be later collected by maintenance crews.
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[Source: OttawaCitizen]
