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WESTM NSTER HAUL

12th April 1980, Page 7
12th April 1980
Page 7
Page 7, 12th April 1980 — WESTM NSTER HAUL
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Keywords : Truck Driver, Cynic

ARE DRIVERS an illiterate lot?

One is tempted to think that this is the view of the Ministry of Transport, for in two of its recent campaigns it spent not a single penny on advertising in either the national or the provincial Press.

Television was where most of the money went to drive home the messages Don't Drink and Drive and Belt Up — the very medium which long-distance lorry drivers are most likely to miss.

Of course, it could be that the Ministry moguls believe that lorry men are beyond reporoach, at least as far as drinking is concerned. And if that is their view, who is going to argue?

Transport Minister Norman Fowler, who gave details of the campaigns in answer to Commons questions, did not go into the reasons why the money was spent in the way it was.

And if there should be the odd hgv driver who calls in at the local instead of the transport cafe, then he could have got the message on the radio in his cab — provided his attention was not occupied by a Mozart quartet on Radio Three.

But before we get too carried away, a stray thought about that lack of adverts in newspapers. Perish the thought that the Ministry view is that drivers never get beyond page three or the other sporting items.

Were that the case it could well have had a bearing on which cinemas showed anti-drink adverts. They would, logically, have been confined to those intimate places specialising in Double X films.

However the decisions were taken, almost all the £1,317,800 spent in the last twelve months on the Don't Drink campaign, and a smaller proportion of the £1,773,300 used to urge drivers to fasten their seat belts, went to television.

Remember the Save It campaign which, the cynics say, conserved electricity to such an extent that the Board has had to put up its prices?

Well, this was one exercise designed to influence the householder, that crea ture who, if folklore is to be believed, spends all his spare time glued in front of the box.

Yet, during the year when over £11/2m went to the national papers and over £70,000 to their provincial rivals, television got not one red cent.

Curious!

Tags

Organisations: Ministry of Transport
People: Norman Fowler

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