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‘. Air. Brown's remarks are likely to find an echo throughout the constituencies'
Page 89
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UNTIL not so very long ago the Ministry of Transport was prepared to give not only the number of accidents, during each year, but also an analysis of the probable causes. Because the analysis was not completely reliable or for some other reason, it has not been published in recent years. This is regrettable, if only because the details have not been available to keep within sensible bounds the enthusiasm of those people who maintain that if this, that, or the other factor, could be eliminated the road accident rate would fall dramatically.
The recent concentration of attention on heavy vehicle checks provides a good example. The impression left by certain highly flavoured reports is that if every goods vehicle were in perfect condition there would be no more accidents. The subject has even spilled over into the General Election campaign with a statement from Mr. George Brown, deputy leader of the Labour Party, which might well be taken as meaning that there would be far fewer accidents but for the denationalization of a section of the long-distance road haulage industry.
To some extent the Minister of Transport, Mr. Ernest Marples, has put the record straight by pointing out that reports of unsatisfactory' vehicles are common throughout every type of industry, private and nationalized and that faults have been found with "major concerns which would never dream of cheese-paring on vehicle maintenance ". Nevertheless, the battle has now been joined and Mr. Brown's remarks are likely to find an echo throughout the constituencies during the next few weeks. It might be as well to assess from the outset what value should be attached to his words.
In his favour is the fact that British Road Services, although they would no doubt lay no extravagant claim to perfection, operate a satisfactory system of maintenance and supervision. The same can be said, however, of practically all the long-distance operators who have become established since denationalization with the assistance, in the first place, of the vehicles they bought from B.R.S. It would seem therefore that in his main contention , Mr. Brown is so mistaken that it would not be out of place for him to withdraw his statement.
Numbers Have Increased It is possible to argue that the number of long-distance operators has increased and that there has been a corresponding increase in the number of operators guilty of undesirable practices. After all nobody has denied the existence of a maniac fringe. There is no evidence that the fringe was not just as active, or even more so, before denationalization. One must suppose that the long-distance traffic, which was not carried by B.R.S. or by hauliers under permit, travelled either under C licence or in the vehicles of unauthorized operators. There may well have been more so-called pirates then than now, and denationalization may even have improved the situation.
There is no way of proving the point. Pirates are almost by definition operators who slip through the statistical net. What is known is that in 1951, for example, two years before denationalization began, there were nearly 50.000 goods vehicles involved in accidents where there were casualties, and that in only 1,683 cases, or between 3 and 4 per cent, were the police of the opinion that the condition of the vehicle contributed to the accident. The latter figure included 347 cases where the fault lay with the load. In nearly 20,000 cases, or two-fifths of the total, on the other hand, the driver was regarded as in some way to blame.
In 1951, just as in 1964, there were many vehicles which the staff of the Licensing Authorities considered in some way defective. Some were found to be worse than others. Except possibly from the official records there is no way of comparing the opinions of the examiners and of the police. If a significantly high proportion of the vehicles on which immediate prohibitions had been placed were also found to be responsible for accidents, there might be a foundation for future action. Otherwise, the Minister's threat of a more severe deterrent, possibly the loss of a licence, while it helped to put certain undesirable vehicles off the road, might have no ascertainable effect on the accident rate.
General Disregard for Safety The farthest one can go is to suggest that the operation of a grossly defective vehicle is the symptom of a general disregard for road safety. An operator who neglects his lorries may also be suspected of neglecting his drivers or, alternatively, of encouraging them to break the law by driving for long periods at a stretch or by consistently exceeding the speed limit. It is natural to assume that such an operator would also be the type who would have no particular regard for the law in any case, especially where it attempted to prevent him from carrying goods without a licence.
The best results might be achieved by concentrating on this accident-prone individual. Annual inspections of all goods vehicles, as contemplated by the Ministry with the support of the operators, might be more equitable but could be wasteful of manpower. Even in the spot checks only the bad-looking vehicles are brought in for inspection, a tacit acknowledgment that the man who looks after the appearance of his fleet is unlikely to be neglectful in other ways. An occasional check is salutary for the best of operators, but more frequent visits to the lax operator could be more productive.
When Mr. Brown asserts that the Socialists, if elected, would tighten up enforcement of existing regulations, he is promising no more than Mr. Marples and would not find the reputable operator disagreeing with him. The most important consideration is to find the best method for getting maximum results in terms of a lower accident rate. In this particular direction there is no scope for scoring party political points, and it would be no more than just if the Labour Party kept the subject out of their election propaganda.