KNIGHTS OF THE ROAD
Page 5
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• It is not news to most CM readers that the road transport industry has an image problem: we are never going to get the general public to love trucks. Tens of thousands of people visit Commercial Motor Truckfest every year to appreciate trucks at their best, but for millions more the truck or, as the tabloids put it, the juggernaut, is an inanimate object to be loathed and avoided.
A 16.5m 38-tonne vehicle can obviously be intimidating, particularly if it is travelling at speed. You have only to overtake a truck in a car and experience the buffeting of displaced air to appreciate the force and momentum entailed.
So if we are not going to get the general public to appreciate trucks, we must take another tack, and one of this week's news stories offers an indication of how everyone in the industry can improve the public's perception of the truck world. The story in question (see page 4) concerns the M6 crash which involved 27 children in a coach and two tankers. And the lesson to be drawn is that we must concentrate on the contribution that people in the industry make to society.
United Transport Tankers is right to sing the praises of its driver John Reason who showed great presence of mind to help to avert a disaster: Reason's Hazfreight training enabled him to respond effectively in the circumstances. It was chance that Reason witnessed the accident — but it was no accident that he had the appropriate training to deal with it. The general public needs to be reminded of the responsible approach to road matters which is taken by nearly everyone in the industry.
Many people in the industry today are too young to remember the days when truck drivers were revered as Knights of the Road. They were appreciated both for the consideration they showed other road users and for the difficult and hazardous work they undertook.
That appreciation has waned, but the Knights of the Road image remains a powerful one. Perhaps it is time to resurrect that image and to take a leaf out of UTT's book, promoting the people in the industry, their skill and their courage, rather than worthy but uninspiring statis tics about their importance to the economy.