U COMMENT LIMITED LOGIC
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• The writing on speed limiters has been on the wall for long enough: hauliers who failed to read it were probably going too fast in the first place. The FTA may well feel that Transport Secretary Malcolm Rifkind's call for retrospective fitment is "lamentable", but logic is not on its side. No one could justify a 335kW (450hp) tractor registered after August 1992 being speed limited, while a July 1992 model was not.
Perhaps the most revealing statement comes from RHA director-general Bryan Colley: "We hove always been opposed to speeding. We even had a national campaign against it but regrettably it was not supported by many non-RHA (and presumably non-FTA) employers or drivers."
There are two kinds of minority. The first is the small group of drivers and operators whose actions have forced politically motivated legislation on the industry. The second is the combined membership of the two major trade associations, which accounts for little more than 25% of 0-licence holders.
So does the majority march to a different drum? No less professional, their trucks have a job, not a "mission". For them transport is still haulage, not "logistics" and BS5750 is as relevant as the blush on a dead man's cheek.
Until the FTA and RHA can extend their influence over all 0-licence holders no one should be surprised when the high-profile anti-social activities of the mindless minority lead to further curbs on every inno cent operator in the UK.