The Significance of Black Smoke
Page 43
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SMOKE is very much in the news! In case there may be operators who think that the initial spot-checks are all that there is to it, I say, they may very well have to think again.
Apart from the small number of heavy vehicles which have been letting the side down badly in the past, and which will doubtless be eradicated by a system of spotchecks and other measures taken by the authorities, we must ensure that the heavy black discharges of the past are over for tall time.
In many quarters the problem is not black 'smoke, but smoke of lower density: diesel smell is considered in some minds as being objectionable to the point Of compulsory abatement.
The answer would appear to be absolute compliance with regulations, but first, this entails the setting of some standard of "smoking."
One seldom picks up a newspaper nowadays without finding at least one letter in the correspondence columns referring to the "menace of black smoke from lorries." The public image of the road industry is fast becoming block and quite unnecessarily so. Obviously we operators must ensure maximum goodwill by our compliance with the regulations of the day, but we must also have first class public relations.
This naturally calls for adequate answers to adverse criticism—frequently unjustified and incorrect. The presentation of the haulage industry's points-of-view, indeed its position in these matters of national importance, require urgent and clever presentation. We can no longer afford to sit down and wait to see what will happen.
The:black smoke problem is stifficient to point the. way, in Which vast sections of the public are. thinking. Acute danger lies in the fact that if the wrong ." image" is allowed to form in the public mind for too long, it may be a very difficult matter to rectify. I think we must make every effort to put these matters into perspective.
Thorpe Bay, Essex. NIGEL BREEZE.