Educate Drivers of Chemical Tankers
Page 72
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
WITH the transport of liquids in bulk becoming an " increasingly important item in the road haulage industry, it is essential that some form of chemical education should be given to driver i of vehicles carrying high volatile liquids. New liquid fuels and chemicals arc coming along every week, and it should be borne in mind that an explosion involving some of these, could cause great damage.
Therefore, I suggest that all drivers likely to be in charge of these new liquids should be given some lessons in the chemistry of the traffic. Operators should back this up by fixing notices in the cabs of tankers, and by displaying warning signals at the front and rear of the vehicles, urging other road users to keep clear.
I should like to see all tankers carrying dangerous loads painted a distinctive colour, and equipped with foam equipment and protective clothing for drivers. These vehicles should be prohibited from parking in built-up areas if a high fire risk is involved, and drivers should be instructed in dealing with any outbreak which may occur.
In some cases, decontamination work might have to be carried out in the event of an accident, so Civil Defence authorities should be notified when these loads are being moved. Too many industrial accidents are caused by ignoring safety factors.
Doncaster. J. W. MORRIS.
• Red Stop Lights, Please
LEARNING that the Minister of Transport proposed to 1-4ensure that flashing indicators at the rear of vehicles should be amber; I thought that, 'after a long struggle, the ideal had been achieved. Faulty stoplights would no longer be interpreted as flashing signals.
Alas, the inevitable has happened! To my dismay I see that the latest Burlingham-bodied A.E.C. vehicles acquired by the Northern General Transport Co., Ltd., are fitted with amber stoplights. I suppose the designers will assure us that amber stoplights do not fail or flicker. Or perhaps the idea is to conform to export requirements. If so, by all means let us please the Continental market, but make it ..ed stoplights for Great Britain.
Wickham. Newcastle upon Tyne. A. D. FORSTER.
Hinged Logging Jinkers in Australia
\TOUR book, "The British Commercial Vehicle I Industry," was received safely. I was very pleased with it and find it truly comprehensive. I am keenly interested in British heavy good vehicles, particularly the big eight-wheelers, which are rarely seen out here.
In The Commercial Motor I have never seen illustrations or references to the "logging jinker" of the type used here in Victoria, and probably in other States. It makes use of a hinged pole, the jinker being carried on a ramp welded to the back of the chassis, and there is no uncoupling of the goose neck or air hoses. To lift the jinker the driver reverses on to a mound or blocks of wood and the jinker brakes are applied. Reversing is then continued so that the pole lifts at the hinge. When the ramp on the lorry reaches the jinker axle the folded pole drops on to a her.vy iron-A-frame mounted behind the driver's cabin, and its wheels are then about 10 in. clear of the road. A chain is passed over the pole and tightened with dogs to a38
prevent it from shifting while travelling on or off the road.
To return the jinker to the road the air brake is applied, the chain removed and the driver, by putting his shoulders under the pole, can push the jinker off the ramp on to the ground. He then drives forward, the pole straightens out and the outfit is ready for loading with logs. This idea saves considerable wear on the trailer tyres, and the outfit is much safer when passing loaded lorries on the mountain roads.
Two of these timber carriers, equipped in Melbourne, use as their basic vehicles a Cornmer 7-tonner and a Commer T4 Superpoise, respectively. These are petrolengined and often work in areas 5,000 ft. above sea level, taking woollybutt ash (hardwood) to the sawmills •
Victoria, Australia. D. J. MILLS. [This type of hinged-pole trailer is actually quite well known in Britain, and examples have been 'built by several of our trailer manufacturers.—ED.]
More Thoughts on Brennan Monorail
I WAS much interested in Mr. Findon's letter about the I Brennan Monorail (The Commercial Motor, March 7) as I can well recall the demonstration, although I was not lucky enough to see it. Bearing in mind the obvious faults in the system, it is doubtful whether it could have had a commercial future, and apparently no further effort was made to develop it.
Regarding M. Findon's comment on the influence of the unsuccessful demonstration on the modern concept of monorail development, surely the principles concerned are totally different. There is little similarity between a vehicle balanced on an earth-mounted rail and another suspended from an overhead track. Apart from track and traction difficulties, there is the necessity of perhaps thousands of cumbersome and unsightly supports, as well as a certain degree of noise, especially in town.
• In this country, where any publicity-seeking crank can object to the siting of an ordinary lamp-post and get a lot of public support in the process, one can imagine the result of a proposal to erect a monorail system.
London, S.E.25. L. REYNOLDS, A.M.I.R.T.E.
No Complaint Against Bus Company
mY attention has been di-awn to a paragraph, "No ivl Buses—No Nurses," in your issue of March 7, and I wish to correct the unfortunate impression that we have complained about the Majestic Bus Co., which is by no means the case.
It is true that our staffing position at certain hospitals has been affected by transport difficulties, but this is by no means the chief cause. We have no complaint whatever against the Majestic Bus Co., who have always done their best to co-operate with the management committee and, indeed, have duplicated their buses on certain services to help us. Difficulty arises from the fact that their services are not as frequent as we would like, but we are satisfied, after discussion with the company, that it would be quite uneconomic for them to increase their services for the limited amount of traffic that would accrue from the staff
of the hospitals. FRANK A. MILS.
York. Group Secretary, York " A " and Tadcaster Hospital Management Committee.