Tell tis the Tale
Page 27
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11 RIVER S of commercial TheMen of vehicles travel the roads -1-47 of this. country. day by . !lave Man y day, year after year. Many Interesting are; employed more or. less . -• r • 'IoCittily. but a. goodproportion .may be ,said. to range: the whole area from Lana'sEnd to John o'roats.. There are also fleet. inspectors and engineers who cover considerable mileages in the course-of their. duties..
Naturally, some of these men must either • see or .even -become involved M 'interesting: and unusual incidents, yetlittle • is heard , of these; although many 'might be of considerable-value 'as . c,iastitining good publicity for -our industry.
There .have undoubtedly been many Cases in whieli themen of the road have acted as gobd Samaritans in the event of accidents-and breakdowns, whilst ..weThaie heard, indirecdy, of Men on the wagons co-Operating with the police in tracking down criminals, particularly those who occupy thernselveg with stealing motor vehicles, their contents or both.
. Drivers and mates have also displayed considerable coinage -in 'rescuing the oecupants of wrecked and burning cars; Some of such -instances are reported, in local papers or in staff bulletinS, but the majority receives little or no recognition. We fed, however, that more should be .done in this connection.
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Competitions For Drivers The United States carries out its commercial road transport propaganda in' a big way. Competitions are organized for "The Driver of the Month" and "The Champion Driver of the Year" and many are the striking and human stories:associated . with their activities:---tales of men who have risked their lives and health to help others.
Sometimes it has been difficult to find themfor even Americans are occasionally reticent on such matters. Some have been traced only through hospital records of burned hands and other. injuries suffered in helping others.. Admittedly, there have been One Or two awkward episodes,. such as the driver who was not long ago rewarded for a most plucky rescue and the next month was fined for dangerous driving. But this was an exception.
the Road Another man recently, in Strniige order to avoid whatmight .'..cind ;have been' a 7i-lisaArous Experiences -accident when an oirertaking car skidded aronndi in .front of him on a-.:tre.aelnerous road, deliberately drove his heavy. .serniqraiter ,outfit off the highway, turnedit over_ and was -injured, but by this l&a-tic act he:almost certainly-saved -the life of the. car
driver. • .
From the point-of vieik• of safety on the roads, we think that soi:_rpgrimoitiof:ts would Ii17.:noficial to our count?'"x,,,.:::;; Apart; :‘vc would like to record in,the-Tagei'.6f this jOurnal suitable, true stories of interesting episodes involving courage, humour, the unusual or human interest. There are probably many, drivers_ who do not have ap opportunity of reading this journal, butt--kndiviedge of incidents of ,ttk nature probably reaches the Cars of the lower dr even bil.ther"executives.
Stories Must Be True It is not essential that every story should deal with an episode in which the writer has been personally concerned, but it is important that tIic.. account should be strictly accurate and vouched for.. If it were merely hearsay. that would urea* reduce its value.
There are, of course, innumerable instances of commercial-vehicle drivers assisting others of their kind, as well as private motorists, in respect of mechanical failures of their vehicles. Details of instances of this nature are not required by us unless there be some exceptional circumstance, such as a particularly novel way in which some difficulty has been overcome. Payment will be made at our usual rates for all matter of this nature which we use.
Our editorial space is limited, therefore we cannot promise to include every contribution, whilst publication would also naturally depend upon its "quality and interest. Any story that we might publish would have to possess a strong point and preferably be of assistancein showing that,,considered as a body, the commercial-vehicle driver is a fine type of man, with solicitude for other users of the road and conscientious application to his work.and duties as a citizen.