• Home
• Used vehicles
• Product news
• Dealer news
• Compliance
• Buying advice
• Archive

UNDER THE ROAD TRAFFIC ACT

By EDWARD S. SHRAPNELL-SMITH, C.B.E.

THE future of the Road Traffic Bill itself remains somewhat "in the lap of the gods," yet all who are concerned to see obvious anomalies go, trust that it will be duly passed. There are dangers ahead, in that the passage of any new legislation through Parliament almost invariably gives rise to a new crop of anomalies and difficulties for the industries concerned.

Merchant Shipping Acts are an -example. Each successive effort of our legislators has made matters worse for the mercantile marine. Shipping progress has been due to internal initiative, and most certainly not to legislative enactments. Road transport has been obliged to rise superior to its trammelling regulations. Some observers of events fear that conditions will now be made worse—not better. It cannot, however, be said that this view is generally held by those whom the Bill will chiefly affect.

Government Acceptance of Advice.

The practice of earlier Governments as regards consultations with representative national road-transport organizations has been observed by Ministers now in office. Diversity of opinion has naturally asserted itself, but on the whole the Minister of Transport and his Parliamentary Secretary have lent a ready ear to the comments and submissions of the C.M.U.A., the L.P.O.A. and other bodies which have been consulted by them.

It may have shocked Mr. Morrison that the Lords threw out, on Lord Brentford's amendment, the proposals to allow municipalities to establish general services outside their boundaries, and it remains to be seen whether or hot the Commons will seek to re-establish these projected new powers. It is quite clear that the 'Government so intends':

From the operator's viewpoint, Clause 19 (formerly 18) is most important. It concerns hours of labour, rest periods, reliefs and all related matters. Until the clause has passed third reading in the Commons nobody, despite an apparent agreement about its wording, can correctly forecast or foresee all that may happen to it. The negotiations concerning it were largely confidential.

It now comes into the open, improved in practical

fashion and import ; but is its drafting final? Are all its implications understood? Here is the text :— (1) With a view to protecting the public against the risks which arise in cases where the drivers of motor vehicles are suffering from excessive fatigue, it is hereby enacted that it shall not be lawful in the case of—

(a) any public-service vehicle within the meaning of Part IV of this Act; (b) any heavy locomotive, light locomotive or motor tractor ; or (c) any motor vehicle constructed to carry goods other than the effects of passengers; for any person to drive, or cause or permit any person employed by him or subject to his orders to drive, the vehicle— (1) for any continuous period of more than five hours and one-half ; or (ii) for continuous periods amounting in the aggregate to more than eleven hours in any period of twenty-four hours commencing two hours after midnight ; or (iii) for such periods that the driver is not allowed an interval of at least ten hours for rest in every consecutive twenty-four hours.

Provided that it shall be a sufficient compliance with the provisions of paragraph (iii) to allow at least nine hours for rest in a period of twenty-four hours if the driver is allowed an interval of twelve hours for rest in the next following period of twenty-Mar hours.

(2) For the purpose of this section—

(a) any two or more periods of time shall be deemed to be a continuous period unless separated by an interval of not less than half-an-hour in which the driver is able to obtain rest and refreshment, and (b) any periods spent by the driver on other work in connection with a vehicle or the load carried thereby, including, in the case of a public-service vehicle, any time spent on the vehicle in any other capacity than as a passenger, shall be reckoned as time spent in driving the vehicle.

(3) The Minister may on the application of a joint industrial council, conciliation board, or other similar body, or on a joint application, by such organizations, representative of employers and workpeople in the industry, as the Minister of Labour may certify to be proper bodies to make such an application, and after referring the matter to the Industrial Court for advice, by order vary the periods of time prescribed in this section. (4) If any person aCts in contravention of this section he shall be guilty of an offence: Provided that a person shall not be liable to be convicted under this section if be proves to the court that the contravention was due to unavoidable delay.

What of the Area Commissioners ?

The vesting of the future of road passenger traliSport under the Bill in the hands of Area Commissioners provides the great new departure.

It is, in the physical sense, to be more than co-extensive with their own respective areas, in that they have the decisive word in regard to sections of routes which lie mainly in other Commissioners' areas.

It is concerning these originating, penetrating or terminating portions of routes essentially external to any one specific area of jurisdiction, that the Road

Traffic Act may prove to introduce serious instances a disagreement.

There will certainly not in every such case of overlapping authority be an automatic "backing" of the other fellows' licences. It is in such circumstances that the right of appeal to the Minister of Transport must be held available.

An early result of the Act will be a definite veto upon dishonest competition. Owners of motorbuses who have in the past secured and held licences without, in fact, honouring and living up to their promises and published intentions get short shrift. Local influence will no longer help them.

The Allocation of Routes.

Accepted and agreed " times " will have to be observed. Rigorous observation of allotted routes will be enforced. There will be less and less opportunity sanctioned for the seasonal adventurer to discount the due rewards of all-the-year-round undertakers.

The outcome of rationalization, as it will surely be applied under the Act, will confirm the ground to the licensees who really give service and will sweep away those who do not.

Tests, of adequacy of service in each area as a whole, and in particular districts, will be gradually formulated. There can be no fixed rule of universal application at the outset. , The industrial and other characteristics of each neighbourhood will need to be regarded. Rail, tramway and motorbus facilities will all be reviewed.

The convenience of the public will come first, no doubt, but it must needs be tempered by regard for economics. There are known to be scores of routes upon which excessive bus-miles are run. The pruning knife is to be laid across the "suckers and the waste."

When the "normal" has been settled for each route, provision will be made for replacement of inefficient owners and expansion of the others. The right to expand will not be abrogated, but it will be controlled. The rationalization of paying routes will permit new development services elsewhere to be increased.

Happenings in Northern Ireland, since August of 1928, may furnish clues and precedents. Growth of demand cannot be resisted, but it will not be met by letting in, as heretofore, an excess of new owners.

There will, before long, be an "appointed day" as and from which those who have firmly established claims by reason of services rendered to the public, will, in fact, become the "appointed providers" so long as they continue to serve properly. Transfers of ownership will not, in my opinion, be barred.

Developing a Controlled Monopoly,

The Act makes it dear that, so far as public passenger transport goes, there will be a controlled monopoly. This will not, for the present, at least, be in any single hand for the whole country. If it should ever be, the State will control.

The aim and tendency are towards grouping, as has been achieved by the railways. The ends in view are probably the same, vfz., first, rationalization, and afterwards nationalization. I do not attempt to name this or that number of years for the cycle of events. Concentrations in association with the railway interests will, under the Act, become the dominant factor in the situation. I forecast that this grouping will by far outpace any municipal overilowings beyond their own boundaries, and rightly so. Co-ordination between services of the railway-road groups and the municipally owned services is, however, inevitable. All the heads must be knocked together. There cannot be co-ordination without a measure of restriction. This admission leads to a partial or complete franchise for selected owners. Limitation and/or pooling of profits will be amongst comparatively early stages, beyond the present conditioning of private enterprise by regulation and taxation. The municipalities and the State will take further toll of revenues D38 and profits. The traffics will have to bear this burden.

The "First Schedule" to the Bill is that setting out the various speed categories, and the respective maximum speeds. I am glad to see that advocacy of the course of running several of the original classifications together has proved of due effect.

The chief outcome of the new Schedule will be yet a farther impetus for the vogue of the giant pneumatic.

I am not one of those who believe that long-distance services will disappear. The public taste favours them. The coaches provide for many their only means for motoring. These services will, it is certain, not be allowed to raid the stages of ordinary motorbus routes.

The point-to-point speeds will be more closely watched, but that procedure will not I forecast, affect their popularity. The vehicles themselves will come under surveillance as to mechanical fitness.

Certifying officers are to be appointed to review, as may be necessary, the important element of maintenance. Motor manufacturers will doubtless be empowered to deliver to type, and, in the absence, of any accident to the vehicle while en route from the works of origin to the place at which it is customarily garaged for service, the issue of Fitness Certificate No. 1 will be more or less formal.

Beyond that, everything will depend on the vehicle's service history. Panels will probably be set up, the engineers upon them having one or more of specified institutional and professional qualifications. Revocation of a certificate of fitness will involve suspension of use of the vehicle until its fitness is re-established.

A period of grace of four years in respect of vehicles already licensed when the Act becomes operative is contingently to be granted.

The smooth working of the Act will largely hinge on the joint organization of the Area Commissioners,

their certifying officers and the police. tp actual practice, the co-operation of local authorities will be a factor of real importance.

No matter how tactfully and well the guiding hand of the Ministry of Transport may be exercised," time will be the only test of the plans which are authorized and envisaged. I see every reason to anticipate success, and the proper serving of the public interest. Patience will be required on all sides—and ability.

Will the "Small Men" Suffer ?

I have frequently been asked the following question :—" Will the Act cause the small men to suffer?" I meet this, provisionally, with my own question, viz.:— "Who are the small men?"

It is frequently asserted, in order to create a sympathetic atmosphere before licensing authorities, that the small undertaking is "run by ex-Service men." This claim for consideration is not always genuine, but, when it is, one has also to pay regard to the fact that the alleged hard-heartedness of those connected with "the large company" is prompted by their duty to maintain themselves and their employees.

Most of such organized companies have to find wages each week for many hundreds of small men, and most of them have high percentages of genuine ex-Service men on their pay-rolls.

Small owners will be brought into line under the Act, as regards compliance with all obligations that are laid upon their larger competitors. Unification of working conditions will be enforced, but there will be scope for new activities.

This change of circumstance for small owners will hit some of them, but by no means all. Compliance with more rigid administration will test them.

Sense and not sentiment will hold sway. The industry is about to be stabilized, inclusive of those small owners who prove themselves to be worthy. My advice to the small owner is to "dig in" now. It may soon be too late effectively to do so.

The mere purchase of one or two vehicles will not, alone, achieve recognition. No mere snatching of a lastminute licence will, of itself, suffice. There must be good and efficient service on record. The day of the unregulated newcomer is almost over.