More Accidents—and New Regulations
Page 25
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
NINE people were killed and 66 injured in 70 accidents involving petroleum spirits or mixtures in 1963. The number of accidents was a steep increake over the previous year, when there were only 39, and the majority could have been avoided with normal care and a little common sense, said the Inspectors of Explosives on Wednesday.
Fourteen of last year's accidents were associated with draining fuel from the tanks of vehicles, causing two deaths and 17 injuries. Other causes included the use of petrol to clean vehicle parts and the dismantling of fuel tanks.
The law on explosives, including their package and conveyance, is to be shaken up soon. With the co-operation of .industry, the 1875 Act is being re-drafted to take account of modern developments and knowledge which have made many of the restrictions on handling and use out of date.
This applies especially to petroleum and acetylene, and working groups have been set up with the industries concerned to bring the law up to date, in conjunction with developments in Europe. Proposed new legislation on the carriage of dangerous and inflammatory substances by road will be covered by these changes
FISH TRAFFIC PLAN FROM B.R.S.
AREPORT on how best the fish traffic from Grimsby could be moved when rail services are cut is now awaited from British Road Services by Grimsby Fish Merchants Association. A B.R.S. staff member has recently been obtaining first-hand information about the traffic and a scheme for road or road/rail distribution is now being drafted, it is understood. Details are expected to be given to the G.F.M.A. by B.R.S. soon.
Mercedes at Show
AT the forthcoming Commercial Motor Show Mercedes-Benz will be showing the new LPS 1920 tractive unit, which is rated for a gross train weight of 32 tons and equipped• with double-circuit air ,raking. The 200 h.h.p. direct injection liesel engine was first shown at the Frankfurt Show last year and the tractive mit was tested by The Commercial Valor on January 24, 1964.
Also on show will be the Unimog " S " cross-country truck powered by an 3613,11.p. petrol engine and equipped with folding cab and front winch. An L405 S-40 cwt. diesel van and an LBI413/36R :hassis and cab with tipper chassis and aeavy-duty suspension complete the mhibits.
F.R.T.A. Too: Following a similar suggesion by the Road Haulage Association, the rraders Road Transport Association has tsked the Ministry of Transport if some narking—possibly a windscreen sticker:Quld be used to show that vehicles had been ieared by a roadside spot-check. and thus 'void them being stopped again soon after
aids, as has happened.
Heavy Fines on
ATOTAL of 267 offences relating to the use of lorries were admitted by Hutchinson Bros., haulage contractors of Kirkcaldy, Fifeshire, at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court, when last week the company was fined a total of £1,227.
. Five charges involving 139 offences concerned the carriage of goods without carriers' licences; one charge involved 15 offences regarding the use of a vehicle outside the terms of a B licence, and five charges involving 113 offences related to permitting vehicles exceeding 14 tons 10 be used on roads at Inverkeithing and elsewhere in Fife. Originally the company was charged with 358 offences, but these were reduced by the procurator fiscal.
In regard to the offences involving the carriage of goods without carriers' licences, the fiscal said it might be suggested that many of these offences were technical in character. But there were very clear regulations governing this kind of thing.
The point regarding the use of overweight vehicles was "undoubtedly one of road safety ", contended the fiscal. In a number of instances the excess weight was more than one ton, two tons and so on, whilst in other instances the weight was just slightly over the permitted maximum.
Scottish Hauliers
Sheriff Sinclair Shaw, imposing the fines, said that the five charges involving L. offences were serious, He had carefully weighed up what the company's agent had submitted in mitigation and said: "I. am prepared to accept that these offences were not 'committed in a spirit of blatant defiance of the regulations."
Coal Not 'Excavated Material' ALSO at Kirkcaldy last week, fines totalling £996 were imposed on haulage contractor Thomas Muir of Kirkcaldy, on 10 charges involving 167 offences relating to' the use of vehicles without B licence conditions.
Muir appealed against the relevancy of three of the charges, contending that " excavated materials" clearly covered coal. Sheriff Shaw 'agreed that if that were so then there had been no breach, hut ruled against Muir.
In the first charge it was said that Muir used certain vehicles for the car, riage of coal for hire or rewatil outside Kirkcaldy and thus failed to comply with
the terms of the licence. Referring to one of the categories into which the conditions of the licence fell, Sheriff Shaw said that permission had been given to carry road and building materials, timber and excavating materials Within 25 miles.