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Vehicle Improvements for Europe
AT their third session, the Working Party on the Construction of Vehicles of the Economic Commission for Europe, made certain recommendations which closely concerned commercial road transport. It was considered that, in the interests of road safety, the only colour for direction indicators on road vehicles in Europe should be amber, and that they should be visible by day and night to all road users, also that flashing lights should be permitted, as is now the case in Britain, for movable-arm indicators. Firm decisions as to the frequency of the flashes may be taken later.
A recommendation which will appeal to many users is that the mechanism operating windscreen wipers should be robust and efficient as well as easily accessible for repair. It was not believed, however, that the fitting of a device for manual operation in case of mechanical failure should be made compulsory. A long-term problem under consideration is that of the basis for agreement on the maximum weights of vehicles to be permitted on the roads of the various countries. At present, these differ considerably. The question of national inspection and approval in this respect of home-produced and imported vehicles is of considerable importance to operators and manufacturers and, during this year, information on the subject is to be obtained from various sources.
Plain Speaking in Plain Clothes
WITH nearly 600,000 motor vehicles on its roads, " New Zealand might be expected to have a high fatality rate, but at 6.2 road deaths per 10,000 vehicles, the rate is remarkably low and is steadily decreasing.
An unusually sharp fall was recorded in the second quarter of last year and the particular interest about this is that it followed the introduction of plainclothes traffic officers. These patrols do not prosecute, A26 their work being educative. They use cars without distinguishing plates, although each man carries a warrant card and when he pulls up a driver he may don a distinctive blue cap. This is probably a chastening experience for an offender. Their most severe action in flagrantly bad cases is to send notes to the uniformed branch, so that its officers may take further action. On the average, they discover, however, that tact is more effective than the big stick. The aim is to impress on an offender the nature and danger of his action. Results show that the same offence is not likely to be repeated by the driver concerned. Culprits are not made to look foolish, but are invited to walk a little distance away and talk over the incident. The drivers and safety officers work together in a sensible and dignified manner.
The appointment of these men in mufti was first recommended by the New Zealand Road Safety Council, who have made other valuable recommendations, some of which have already become law.
Electricity and Productivity
A FTER studying productivity abroad, an executive of a large factory convenes a production meeting at his works and asks for ideas as to how increased output can best be achieved. This is the beginning of the film "Planned for the Purpose," produced by the British Electrical Development Association, 2 Savoy Hill, London, W.C.2, previewed in London recently.
One of the suggestions put forward at this meeting refers to improved plant layout, and the film then describes this in detail as a branch of industrial engineering. Shots of actual production stages in various industrial establishments, including a portable tool factory, illustrate the vital factors in effective planning of industrial equipment. Available on free loan from the Association, in both 16 mm. and 35 mm. versions, the film runs for 43 minutes.
The Threat of Air Travel
FORTUNATELY for British long-distance coach I and bus operators, air travel in this country does not at present constitute the threat to surface transport that it does in the United States. Indeed, the problem will probably never rise to the same proportions, owing to the short, and therefore uneconomic, nature of domestic routes in the United Kingdom.
Last year, for the first time, the number of passengers who travelled by air in the U.S.A. exceeded the number using the railways. The airlines had a total of 17,700m. passenger-miles, against the railways' (excluding suburban lines and Pullman coaches) 17,600m.
Since the end of the war, an increase in air traffic has been accompanied by a steady decline in the number of passengers using the railways. Passenger mileage for ordinary and Pullman coaches reached a peak of 58,800rri. in 1946; last year it was down to 25,000m.
Surprisingly, in view of these figures, travel by longdistance bus is still the most popular, non-local services covering 18,000m, passenger-miles in 1954. Although bus travel costs only half that of ordinary plane services, it also, however, is steadily losing ground.
Fewer Passengers in Scotland
TRANSPORT men likely to be affected are becom
ing alarmed at the changing evening habits of many Scottish communities. The volume of traffic at that time on many city and town routes has shrunk to a point which makes operation of some services uneconomic.
In Edinburgh, on many occasions recently, buses and trams have run with only one or two passengers during the " dead '' period between 7-9 p.m. Many reasons are advanced for the reduction. There is, of course, the growing impact of television, whilst numerous residents are living much farther from city centres and hesitate to travel far at night—if, indeed, they have time to do so after getting home from their place of business.
The high cost of transport is another factor which limits evening traffic and this threatens to become more serious as the situation develops. The result is that fewer vehicles are being run in these hours by most of the Scottish undertakings. whose only really active time is when cinemas, theatres and late restaurants close at between 10.30 and 11 p.m.
Scotland is not the only part of Great Britain that is suffering in this manner, it applies in many other areas_