Carnival time
Page 4
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FOUR-FIFTHS of goods freight is transported by road, yet goods vehicle operators are treated shabbily, almost discourteously, by politicians. If road transport operators took their vehicles off the road tomorrow, the country would grind to a halt within a week, the economy would collapse and most of the population would starve.
What does the future hold? Promises of increased taxes and accusations from conservationists that road transport despoils the countryside and destroys the towns. Hints of new laws, more enforcement with increased costs and no promise of increased weights.
As if this were not enough, road men see their hard-earned cash disappear in taxes and reappear in subsidies to support an antiquated railway system or used for some prestigious construction like a bridge across a river that won't carry traffic anyway, or a motorway which cannot be justified, or on a tour of politicians to study a transport system that cannot be adopted at home.
You could be excused if for a fleeting moment you vaguely recognised a hint of our domestic scene in all this tale of gloom, for this is South America we are talking about. Take heart this festive season, men like yourselves who are celebrating Christmas in temperatures of 30deg C are suffering ,the same frustrations as yourselves and, like you, will battle on to provide their countries with a service without which none of us would survive.