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ROLLING T11111■411:1ER
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Few newspapers have more clout than The Times. As part of CM'S PR campaign for the truck
industry, editor in chief Brian Weatherley put
its transport correspondent, Ben Webster, behind the wheel of a 40-tonne artic...
It's often said that it's not what you know but who you know. So when I found myself sitting next to The Times transport correspondent at a recent Freight Transport Association dinner it seemed far too good an opportunity to miss.After allies not every day you get the chance to spread the Gospel of Road Haulage to an influential broadsheet journalist. Having come dangerously close to boring Ben on the virtues of longer trucks (well, we can all get carried away) I asked him if he'd like to drive an artic to find out what fife was like in the 'HGV Lane'.
Somewhat warily Ben accepted,no doubt wondering what sort of propaganda I'd be dishing up. He's been on "The Thunderer" for five years: before that he worked on the Scotsman under Andrew Neil. After a spell as night news editor and assistant news editor he took on the transport brief three years ago.
Before I enticed him behind the wheel of a 40-tonne XF95.480 (courtesy of DafTrucks at Thame) the largest commercial vehicle he'd ever driven was the ubiquitous 3.5-tonne LutonTransit which he'd hired to move his possessions from Belfast to London."I loved that," he says."' enjoyed driving through the night from St ranraer.I enjoyed the camaraderie of the trucks as they were overtaking me." (We can just imagine it. Ben: you. the night, and dozens of Irish boys tramping past along the A75...) "I quickly picked up the flashing lights bit helping you know you've passed — even though I was in a small van."
A cyclist?
Webster then dropped his bombshell:"Apart from that! don't own a car —I cycle everywhere." It was too good a chance to miss:"And presumably you hug a few trees as well?" Ben immediately came back with "only at weekends" before the conversation got serious:"I do have an issue with trucks because they're the number one cause of death for cyclists. Whenever I'm on my bike and turning left I assume they're going to overtake rue and then turn themselves."
But aren't cyclists often their own worst enemies? "Only to a limited extent," Ben replied. -It's often the situation where the truck driver has seen you and wants to turn left 100 yards further on but rather than slow down they overtake and then try and turn in front of you but they don't get past because they're 16.5 metres long. We're the most vulnerable people on the road."
In mitigation I pointed out the sideguards on Des semi-trailer and talked Ben through the legislation that prompted them in the first place to protect cyclists from going under a truck.
So is it a matter of educating both groups of road users? Ben impressed me by mentioning the joint FTA/Transport for London Share the Roads Safely campaign which was launched in September 2002: "As I recall the tone of that was that cyclists should watch out, and that trucks shouldn't cut corners. But in some cases it's partly a matter of bad road design."
And just when I thought the conversation might be going down a blind alley Ben delivered his real coup de grace: "Trucks have more right on the roads because there's no other way to transport goods so effectively."
What? Did I mishear that last bit? Apparently not:"Most ear journeys are less than two miles long anyway." he added.I manfully resisted adding that with 23 million cars and 410,000 CVs on the road it's not hard to see where road congestion is coming from -but fair play to the bloke for his realistic assessment of the value of road transport.When was the last time you read anything like that in a national newspaper?
However, time's pressing and it's time to get the man from The Times up into the XF95 and driving around the Qinetiq test track, under the watchful gaze of Dal's demonstration supremo Richard Kingston. Ben had definitely landed on his feet as the XF tractor was the 480hp two-pedal AS-Tronic that CM recently tested.
Richard ran through the controls and it was time to roll, with Ben commendably vigilant about the length of the artic."Enjoying it? "Yes... it's just that I'm flying to concentrate!" he said.As we built up speed to a steady 45mph Ben started to relax.
"You can really feel the momentum; so much so that I feel that if I trod on the brake hard it would go on for a long time," he remarked as we run down a slight incline and 40 tonnes worth of momentum made itself felt.
Not fazed,Richard told Ifinito try the brakes and the EBS/ABS outlit came to a smooth stop with no fuss or bother."Now put you foot on the throttle and accelerate away," he said and we pulled away withAS-Tronic handling the up-shifts automatically."It's incredibly easy," said Ben,"although I feel something could go wrong!"
But after a couple of laps Ben was happily taking us around the banking at a steady 50-nph."I can really feel the weight in the back.,and I'm quite surprised to feel the road too." he said.
Within three more laps he was using the exhaust brake to good effect to check his speed and commenting on the steering's lightness:"I'm amazed at how responsive it is... I'm used to cars without power steering— they're usually pretty cheap with the budget!" On The Times? Surely not! the driving seat and IA us in the mirrors as wi walked around the tr to show him where th blind spots are. Despi the Daf's extra-widemirrors, half way don nearside we disappu from Ben's view... rig] next to the trailer sick guards. We could aim have been cyclists...
As a finale Ben toe the 40-tonner throug the twisting, hilly "snt section, which was in all the more unfriend piles of wet leaves.
As we ran down a then surged back up crest the steep hill he remarked again:"I the weight kick in thi I also expected it to re slow down on the hill but! could feel the momentum pushing us up it."
Back into the car park and immediate asked for Ben's verdict: "Brilliant! The vi ibility from the cab is ama; the mirrors are so super-ii a truck but let the pro drivers would 1 How he wasn't yet satisfiedhe wanted to ti reversing.With Richard actii as banksman our novice trucker started t back up gently and had the same reactior this manoeuvre as every new HGV drive "It's extremely tricky." When I passed on old tip,-steer into your problem," he said "It's counter-intuitive to turn the wheel ii opposite direction. I'll have a lot more re: now while I'm watching a truck pulling is supermarket car park!"
So did he enjoy his experience?
"Very much so! This is why I became a transport correspondent.I recently went Concorde... but you don't get to fly it!
Next time you're delivering in London see a cyclist in front of you think twice be you overtake him. After all you never kn who it might be, and we'd hate to see all c hard work undone.
CM's thanks to Richard Kingston and D Trucks for all their help. •