Law enforcement and tyre care
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CO-OP TRAFFIC MANAGERS HEAR WIDE-RANGING PAPERS
TMPORTANT figures from the motor in dustry and from the transport section of the Co-operative movement covered a wide variety of subjects in the course of six papers presented at the eighth annual conference of the National Co-operative Traffic Managers' Association at Blackpool. Transport managers from societies throughout the country attended the meetings which opened last Saturday and closed on Tuesday.
Guest speaker on Monday was Mr. W. J. H. Palfrey, deputy chief constable of Lancashire. who gave his views on the enforcement of road traffic law, in particular stressing the value of the pre-war "courtesy cops".
In 1937 the Lancashire Constabulary, together with certain other selected police districts, took part in what became known as the Courtesy Cop Plan, a scheme that was an undoubted success and achieved a remarkable reduction in accidents, said Mr. Palfrey.
Accident-prone areas were saturated with officers who had been given a period of training in advanced driving techniques. Courtesy was their keyword and in time the motoring public responded so that the courtesy was a two-way flow—but the war years came and the scheme had to be abandoned. So far as Lancashire was concerned the courtesy scheme had continued on a modified scale in the post-war years. Mr. Palfrey said he liked to think that courtesy was still the keyword of their officers, but sometimes he wondered whether there was the same response from the motoring public of the mid-60s as there was from those of the late 30s.
The Lancashire force was one of the most highly mechanized in the country, having nearly 700 police-owned vehicles of all types. Before an officer was allowed to perform road traffic patrol he was taught to drive at the police driving school and if successful was then given a traffic officers' course.
It had to be impressed upon each officer that whilst his immediate objective might be to take some enforcement action against a driver, the ultimate objective was to change that person's driving behaviour.
Enforcement Of the speed limit probably caused more bad feelings between the police and the public than any other matter, but there was no doubt that active enforcement by the police did reduce accidents.
The 70 m.p.h. limit was brought into effect because during the bad weather conditions of last year a number of irresponsible drivers drove their vehicles with a total disregard for the safety of both themselves and other road users.
It was too early to say whether or not the introduction of the limit had effected any reduction in accidents, said Mr. Palfrey, but the fact remained that, even in a democracy, majorities must suffer because of the irresponsibilities of minorities. He placed the long-distance lorry driver as the best type on the roads.
Cost of congestion
There was no doubt that parking was a real threat to traffic flow and constituted a great accident hazard. Few local authorities faced up to their responsibilities in relation to the motor vehicle. They needed motorists to bring trade to the towns but could not care less what the drivers did with their cars.
Traffic congestion in England at the present time was estimated to cost about £700m. per annum, whilst accidents during 1965 were estimated to have cost the country more than £200m. Law enforcement fell into two parts: firstly, advice or verbal warnings on the spot; secondly, warnings sent by post, and prosecutions. In a number of countries a system of imposing fines, or a fixed penalty. on the spot is in operation, and he thought there was much merit in the scheme.
The question of whether to bring offenders to court or to try to enlist their aid by dealing with their minor acts of carelessness or forgetfulness by way of caution, must depend on the results achieved. continued Mr. Palfrey, and the rise and fall in prosecutions in any scheme must depend equally to some extent upon the increase or decrease in the volume of traffic on the roads. Some of the less serious offences were bound to be dealt with by way of summons if it were found that previous warnings had not been heeded. Prosecution was also likely to follow in any minor case in which a driver objected to being cautioned, so that a court could decide whether or not an offence had been committed.
Mr. Palfrey said he did not propose to discuss the merits or otherwise of medical tests such as those for blood or urine, or breathalysers. It was his personal opinion that the law in the United Kingdom, as it stood, was quite adequate to deal with drunked drivers if courts and juries would face up to their responsibilities.
Re-examination plan?
Replying to the discussion, Mr. Palfrey said he thought that just as children's courts were necessary there should be specialist lay magistrates to deal with the great volume of work on motoring cases. He saw nothing wrong with bad driving being reported to the police, as a great deal of benefit would result from any verbal warning that might follow. Mr. Palfrey did not think that the ordinary driving test was adequate, but there were economic difficulties in the way of improving the situation. Arrangements for periodical re-examination would probably come in the future.
The mechanical condition of a vehicle must be satisfactory in order to show a good ty-e cost per mile, said Mr. H. N. Kennerell, manager, technical group (OE), Michelin Tyre Co. Ltd. His company had a number of skilled technicians in the field who were ready to solve problems in co-operation with both users and the vehicle manufacturers' service department. The way in which a velicle was driven could modify or even nullify the efforts of tyre and vehicle designers and transport managers to make their units both economical and safe.
Endeavours should be made to fit new ty -es in autumn rather than in spring. With a new tyre the first half of the tread pattern wore at a faster rate than the lower half because as the tread wore down it was subjected to less shuffle. This early faster rate could to some extent be compensated by running the tyre during the wetter, colder period. Also the deeper treads would be a better safety aid in the generally poorer weather.
New vehicles probably took 5,000 miles to settle their steering geometry. Alignment should be checked at 500 miles and at least every 1,000 miles. Wheels that wobbled, apart from causing bad handling, would cause tyres to wear unevenly. Tyre wear could be "lumpy" as a result of brake judder. Drums that had become oval, that had high spots or where the brakeshoe pivots were loose caused the brakes to snatch in certain places every time they were applied. Thus tread became increasingly worn in just one or two places so that when the pattern had disappeared there substantial tread might still be seen elsewhere.
Quite a number of cases had been investigated where everything appeared to be in order mechanically, but as soon as the wheel was put on and the studs tightened the brake drum distorted because the nave of the wheel was not truly flat.
Plans which were nearing finalization for fully automated and mechanized regional warehouses were described by Mr. D. Barber, management accountant, Co-operative Wholesale Society Ltd. These would eliminate many unnecessary Movements of goods, he said.
With automation in the warehouse it was only necessary for one man to press a button to execute an order and the plant could be run on double shift at virtually no extra cost. With this project goods bought from a manufacturer would be delivered to one point imtead of perhaps a thousand different places. They would be handled as pallet loads with a vast saving in transport and documentation costs.
In considering plans to be employed for a regional warehouse at Newcastle upon Tyne, it was contemplated delivering on a shift system, orders being trunked by large vehicles carrying 24 containers day and night to district trans-shipment compounds. The scheme would employ wheeled containen; weighing about 60 lb., which would carry 600-800 lb. of goods.