Q Your news item in the December 31
Page 57
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
1971 issue concerning the newly titled Transport and Road Research Laboratory interested me particularly in view of your comments a few weeks previously about the apparent lack of liaison between research bodies in transport, to prevent duplication of effort. Is this criticism likely to prove relevant to the new TRRL?
AThere is very little chance of duplication
of effort on any of the main research work undertaken by the TR RL. There are, for example, members of the staff of the Motor Industry Research Association on committees of the TRRL and representatives of the motor industry are involved in the work of both organizations. The DoE, which controls TRRL and has a financial stake in MIRA, also acts as a co-ordinating point for the allocation of many research tasks.
The TRRL is also one of the three main international centres for the exchange of transport and traffic research information among nations covered by OECD — which covers North America and Western Europe,
This international "cross-referencing" is especially valuable now that so much research effort is being devoted to environmental and safety aspects. The former RRL has, for instance, undertaken several studies on the effects of speed limits and late last year in Paris the council of the European Conference of Ministers of Transport adopted a resolution recommending all 18 ECMT countries to apply speed limits covering their entire road systems, or as much of them as possible, with graduations according to class of road. And the ECMT has already stated that it intends to try, when scientific studies have been completed, to introduce a uniform system of speed limits for all the countries concerned.
Apart from liaison within the research establishments, the Fl R L, now TRRL publishes regular reports on its activities as well as a
detailed annual report, and M IRA, for example, produces regular bulletins and an annual report.