Adoption Society ?
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IT has been suggested that the Road Operators Safety Council—the new body born of disagreement between the bus operators and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents— should promote a competition for coach and bus drivers on the lines of the Lorry Driver of the Year Competition. The idea is splendid, but it is a pity that the two contests should be held separately. Goods and passenger drivers share the same hazards on the roads and exercise similar skills, and they are worthy rivals in a commercialvehicle drivers' championship.
R.O.S.Co. has a ready-made administrative machine and a London address, which is necessary for prestige. It has the connections needed to ensure a representative entry from passenger operators, but would require the active support of the Road Haulage Association, as well as of the Traders Road Transport Association and others, to attract entries frOm the goods side.
Fine work has been done by the T.R.T.A. in furthering the aims of the Lorry Driver of the Year Competition, but the R.H.A. has been barely conscious of its existence. Perhaps the R.H.A. is at last awakening to the possibilities and merits of establishing known standards of driving skill and of the importance of encouraging pride in craft.
It would be discourteous to the originators of the Lorry Driver Competition to break into their ground without first offering to take over the contest by amicable arrangement. Efforts are being made to form a new organization to sponsor and widen it, and the time is ripe for negotiation.
The present organizers would cease to hold a dominant position and to surrender the competition to R.O.S.Co. would call for a great sacrifice of pride. Their pioneer work would have to be recognized by giving them adequate representation in R.O.S.Co. The main obstacle to negotiation is probably the allegiance that they owe to Rospa, and the climate in which R.O.S.Co. has been born might be embarrassing to them.
Nevertheless, an excellent opportunity presents itself to hand over a lusty infant competition to a well-placed foster parent. The possibility of adoption should be speedily investigated.