BBC's attitude
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Many operators have thought for some time that the BBC is very anti road transport. They were given no chance to change their minds after a recent 24 Hours programme, when the industry suffered another blow.
A young .lady, obviously with very little knowledge of road transport, introduced the item, during the course of which we were told of the great dangers of. "jack-knifing". This was presented in such a manner that the owners and drivers of articulated 'vehicles were, to my mind, made to appear virtual criminals.
It was also pointed out to us that British Road Services were experimenting with 300 articulated units fitted with light-laden valves, and as no other companies, public or private, were mentioned, the general public is led by this to believe that no other operator has ever heard of this, or for that matter of any antijack-knife device.
We were also told how many articulated vehicles were involved in jack-knife accidents, injuring occupants of private cars, but we were not informed of the number of similar accidents caused by the private motorist.
More bad publicity came our way when we were told that one in 10 commercial vehicles are unroadworthy, May I suggest that if the private car, during the MoT test, was given a similarly thorough examination to that at present imposed on goods vehicles, the figures would possibly be equally disturbing?
Doubts were cast throughout the short item about the shortcomings of operators and drivers. It made it appear that we are not very safety conscious. On the contrary, I firmly believe that the great majority of owners and drivers in this country are extremely anxious about the safety of their vehicles and the general public.
One day, I hope the BBC will give road transport a little credit for the fine work that it does, and point out to the masses that without it this country would be virtually without almost every commodity in daily use, where and when it was required.
'Just occasionally, a pat on the back would give all involved in this vital industry a little more heart. • A.R. CLAPHAM, Clapham's Transport, Doddington, Cambs.
Tachographs and pay
Your correspondent of last week, Francis B. Willmott, will have us believe that the introduction of the tachograph would be a great step forward, in the interests of employer and driver alike. This is the popular view of the theoreticians, who are ever ready to rally to any cause whatsoever which brings into em ploy sophisticated methods and expensive equipment. It is a frightening thought that the erudite "wild-catters" who have helped us to "write off" of E1,300 million of British Rail deficit (each "cure" of dieselization, electrification, containerization, etc., causing a greater economic ill than its immediate predecessors) may now be turning their powerful, but not universally welcome, attentions to road transport.
There is a very small area in which the tachograph might assist management in obtaining something marginally better in driver control (vehicle utilization), but it is a grave distortion of the nationaltransport picture to represent this area as of vital consequence. It is not possible even to identify it precisely, so diverse are the operations of road-carrying, but if one said that the hypothetical case for the fitting of tachographs was probably strongest in the State Sector, then one is not too far from the underlying truth that there is a pious hope in the larger and sometimes flabbier organizations that the tachograph will prove to be a "management maid-of-all-work:' It will not prove to be so. Many employers fit this device already. Those who do not will not resolve their management problems by fitting the tachograph under the protection of the Statute Book.
In my view, Sir, Mr Willmott in his letter provides the clearest illustration of the folly of this Superfluous and "un-cost-conscious" legislation: "Every driver would surely find it advantageous to have his mind alert to the essential factors with which the device is installed as a means of avoiding drowsiness." If this is intended to convey that the intelligent driver will find the tachograph an aid to avoiding drowsiness, then I'll not quarrel with the point. I do not pretend to understand it! But the average driver of a vehicle over 30cwt tare weight is not likely to get drowsy through lack of concentration: he has much too much to think about!
He is backing up to a tip, he is unloading coal or bricks, he is selling mineral waters, cakes or bread, or delivering a host of other products or parcels, often over but a score of miles per day.
Are all these drivers' vehicles to be equipped with expensive tachographs, to be upkept and administered, and with the vehicle immobilized if the stylus ink runs dry? Even in the sphere of longer-distance haulage the sliderule theoretician will soon find his looked-for gains to have been overtaken by unforeseen losses arising from the natural defencemechanisms of the much more astute operative, who may against his real wish be compelled to pursue unproductive practices to increase his income.
It is but a myth and a pipe-dream to imagine that in the flesh and blood world of "fetch and carry" any real and lasting benefit can accrue from such a contrived mechanical aid to management as the tachograph. As Mr Willmott points out, however, there may be something in it for the driver. At the end of the day there will be nothing at all in it for the nation.
R. HARLEY, Ashby de la Zouch
Brake efficiency
I have been a transport manager for 22 years. I have seen the law on vehicle weights and speeds raised from 20 mph and 24 tons gross to its present 70 mph on motorways and 32 tons gross.
Increases in weights are forecast daily. New vehicles are to be produced which, it is claimed, will carry 40 tons at 70 mph. What I am concerned about is—how will we stop them ?The law on brake efficiency is already giving rise to concern in some sections of the haulage industry and this new flier will make life even more difficult It would be interesting to hear from both the vehicle and brake manufacturers what their answer would be or what they are planning for the future.
J. RAMSAY. Senior Manager, Transport Department, Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society Ltd.
Drivers' hours
The Government is to put before Parliament a plan to reduce the present maximum hours for drivers of goods vehicles. Included in this plan are proposals for the mandatory fitting of speed, time, and distance recorders in goods vehicles. Further examples of legislation by a Government committed beyond redemption to the destruction for all time of private enterprise and initiative in all its practical forms.
These proposals underline the Government's bias in favour of the outdated railway system regardless of its unsuitability to industries' present-day needs.
Not only will this plan inevitably increase the number of trucks on our highways but will also bring about an increase in transit rates, for drivers will naturally expect the same pay for a 9-hour day as they now receive for 11 hours.
As always the customer will pay!
The hour is late, not a day must be lost in making plain to the people of this country that "Truck lines are a nation's lifeline".
L. APPLEBY, Wolverhampton, Staffs.