Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Autobots running wild

How can productivity be an adequate reason for potentially fatal risks?

With all the construction taking place all over our island, the roads are inevitably filled with mega vehicles. Some seem big enough to live in! It is a terrifying sight to see these Autobots, vehicle-sauruses, barrelling down our neighbourhood roads at high speeds, and nerve-wrecking for other drivers on the expressways. 

Mind you, these giants are of course legally obliged to maintain low speeds. However, as our little Swift has been frequently overtaken by these giants, it is obvious that speeding is common habit among them. Perhaps we can't really blame the drivers - they are paid by the trip i.e. the more trips they complete in a day, the more they earn. It is only natural that to maximise their wages, they resort to excessive speeds. One can only imagine their frustration when there are traffic jams, as there always seem to be. 

Why is such an inequitable arrangement allowed at all? Employers argue that if a fixed wage is given, drivers have little incentive to be productive, and might not complete as many trips as they should. They then hinted that this would lead to increased costs, and higher prices for the consumer. 

The pay-per-trip system compels a lowly paid worker to bear all responsibility for road safety, penalizing those who abide by the speed limits. The public is subject to the consequences of any reckless driving. Business owners gain in productivity, their customers enjoy lower prices, but what good is it to the rest of us? And thus this clever arrangement keeps all profits private while making the costs public. 

How many more fatal accidents must take place before something decisive will be done? 

2 comments:

network ace said...

nice cover picture....

Little Miss Titch said...

oh we have a swift too great little car,how ever back to your post probably a lot of Accidents,xx Rachel