Video boost for SMMT campaign
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SOME much-needed visibility has been added to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders motor industry campaign with the release of its eight-minute video presentation of the case for the lorry.
The video (CM, May 25) is presented by broadcaster Brian Redhead, whose sympathy for the lorry has not always been apparent in his regular presentation of Radio 4's Today programme.
He says that the volume of freight traffic carried by road is "one great big incontrovertible fact", and points out that without lorries it would be impossible to get many goods to their customers.
"The fact of life in the 20th century is that if you halt the -lorry you halt the economy," Mr Redhead asserts in the course of a commentary which he wrote for the video presentation.
He comments on the poor image which the lorry has in society, but points out: "While not every car journey is really necessary, every lorry journey is."
And he concludes by saying that lorries' accident record is the best for all road users, but states the case for a more complete road network than exists today.
The video is to be made ava,ilable as a "thought starter" for use in presentation to opinion formers, and will be distributed in schools, polytechnics and local authority planning committees.
SMMT director Anthony Fraser said last week that he hoped it would help prepare the ground for better public acceptance of the lorry once specific matters, such as the lowering of the mane rating of dery and the need for a down-licensing concession, are discussed.
The r.eight Transport Association is planning to use the video in place of its own tive-year-old public relations film when making presentations to organisations like Women's Institutes.
While the SMMrs campaign has been criticised for its failure to gain TTIllCh media coverage, Mr Fraser said it was aimed principally at such opinion formers as MPs and members of the House of Lords.
He said he already detected some sign of higher quality motor industry 'questions being asked in Parliament as a result of the SMMT's efforts.
The campaign costs E400,000 a year, with approximately one third of that being devoted to commercial vehicle matters, and all of the money comes from the SMMT's own resources.
But it is supported by other bodies like the FTA and the Road Haulage Association, whose regional bodies added a country-wide dimension which the SMMT's own structure does not possess.