E5 "Heavies' Test Aim By Late 1967
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FROM OUR PARLIAMENTARY CORRESPONDENT
TT may cost up to £.5 for a heavy lorry to be tested at one of the nation-wide chain of stations which the Government aims to have established by the end of next year.
This possible figure was mentioned last week by Mrs. Barbara Castle, the Minister of Transport, when she introduced the Road Safety Bill, which the Commons later approved and sent to a Committee to be examined in detail.
Outlining the Government's proposals for lorries, Mrs. Castle said it would be quite wrong to suggest that our roads were full of "killer" lorries. Of the 139,000 vehicles inspected in the 12 months up to September 30 last, only one in 10 was in a sufficiently dangerous condition to warrant being taken off the roads immediately.
Another 36 per cent were found to have sufficient defects to warrant a delayed prohibition notice without being dangerous.
"But I am sure that we would all agree that 14,000 dangerously defective lorries are 14,000 too many", commented the Minister. "The serious point is that the figures show no improvement over the previous 12 months!'
The operators' own associations, which were fully aware of their responsibility to the public, welcomed the steps which the Government proposed to take.
It had been decided to use and build special Government stations for the tests, and it was estimated that 60 to 70 would be needed if vehicles were not to have to travel too great distances. The capital cost was estimated at about £8m. spread over a number of years.
The Ministry had assured the garage trade that they did not intend to steal its staff to man these testing stations. Instead they had started discussions with the Ministry of Labour about recruitment and training of the extra staff which not only the Ministry but the trade itself would need if vehicles were to be maintained to the higher standards they simply must have.
The proposed industrial training boards for the road transport industry and for the motor vehicle repair trade would be of great help here.
Both the capital and the operating costs of the testing scheme would be recouped from fees varying with the size of the vehicle, up to, say, £5 for a large vehicle, added Mrs. Castle. The Ministry would certainly keep in touch with the interested organizations in working out the details.
When she dealt with maximum loads and plating, the Minister said it was intended to intensify spot checks for overloading.
Extra weighbridges would be needed, and the Ministry intended to operate about 100 of its own as well as making arrangements for using existing ones.
She had seen it estimated that a lorry could earn its owner about £1,000 a year extra profit through systematic overloading. The Ministry believed that the knowledge that both the owner and the driver could be fined £200 the new penalty which replaces the present £50—might make the owner think twice about taking the risk.
Moreover, loading at the new maximum plated weights would now be one of the factors taken into account by the licensing authority when deciding whether to revoke, curtail or suspend carriers' licences.
Eventually plating might apply to all goods vehicles, said Mrs. Castle, but it was intended to start with the heavier ones. They would be ready to start annual testing and plating of existing vehicles by 1968.
This would be done by groups of vehicles, starting with the oldest and by 1970 it was hoped that all the heavier vehicles would have been covered, irrespective of age.
The proposals for dealing with new vehicles under the type-approval scheme would have other very important advantages, pointed out the Minister. It would enable the Ministry to check that their requirements about construction were being met. Some of these—protection against excessive noise for example—had proved very difficult to enforce effectively under present law.