'Why is it only the lorry driver who has an image?'
Page 74
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FINE weather at Whitsun brought out the motorists in their thousands and their presence on the roads in such numbers inevitably produced a large crop of accidents. The grim arithmetic arrives at much the same result every Bank Holiday period. The Ministry of Transport issues the customary warnings and takes special steps to make the roads safer. These efforts must have a good effect even if it cannot be calculated precisely. The fact remains that the experts have a good idea in advance of the number of people who will be killed and injured, just as the pollsters can forecast the result of an election within a reasonably narrow margin of error.
Mr. Marples must be strongly tempted at times to turn fatalist and decide that nothing he can do is of any avail. It is one of the many things to his credit that he perseveres with promising lines of action and is continually looking for fresh ideas. He has dared to argue with the thousands of motorists who boast of their strong heads and even maintain that alcohol improves their driving. He has pursued unpopular policies such as the 50 m.p.h. speed limit on certain roads at week-ends. Having made up his mind he does not hesitate to speak it.
He did so not long ago at the annual dinner of the Traders Road Transport Association. His theme was the " public image" of the goods vehicle which it seemed to him was getting worse. He suggested that to some extent operators and drivers might be to blame. His catalogue of faults included black smoke, noise, speeding and overloading. He admitted that the examples he gave might be extreme cases, but insisted that too many lorries and vans could be better maintained and that more than a handful of professional drivers no longer kept to the high standards which had once earned them the reputation of " knights of the road ".
A Monstrous Parody
A particular reference by Mr. Marples to what he called the "maniac fringe of the industry caught the attention of the Press and in particular of the producers of the television programme "Panorama ". The commentators and the cameras set out to find the fringe and were apparently satisfied that they had succeeded. Of the effect of the subsequently televized item on the public in general it is not easy to be certain. People tend to forget what is not of immediate interest to them. The effect upon road operators, on the other hand, was traumatic.
The reason is easy to understand. Operators and drivers would have expected to see some recognizable picture of the industry to which they belong. Instead of this, attention was concentrated on one or two extreme cases of vehicles with defects so gross that nobody could challenge the examiner's verdict that they were not fit to be on the road. The camera did not lie, but to the expert viewers it seemed all the same to be producing a monstrous parody of their daily activities.
Futile perhaps to point out that this was not the intention. The camera crew went out presumably to test Mr. Ma rples' allegation of a maniac fringe and there is no point in c36 denying that they found instances where it was justifie Nevertheless, there are many operators who are not satisfin with this explanation. If they cannot find fault with ti B.B.C. then they are prepared to blame Mr. Marples. F should have made his point in some other way, they sugges and some of them may have in the back of their minds t1 thought that it was doubly unfortunate that his remarl should have come in an election year.
Not many operators would take the last point serious!: it is better to save lives than to win elections. But ti controversy does raise other questions worth examinatio For example, why is it only the lorry driver who has a image? Other classes of road user seem able to do withoi this unwanted luxury. The inquest following the Whits accidents is concerned only with the motorists involvel It is not suggested that their carelessness or lack of skill i any way besmirches the image of motorists as a whol The recent criticisms of ice cream vendors whose vat are parked on the opposite side of a busy road facing school are not considered to have any effect on the imai of the cornet or the ice lolly.
Operators' Burden
Operators who criticize Mr. Marples can therefore b said to have a point. The image to which the Ministn referred is a burden they have to bear. Unfortunatel: what touches one touches all. The motorist who annoyed or placed in peril by a lorry which obviously not up to standard does not discriminate. He curses lorrit as a whole. If he read Mr. Marples' remarks his opinio is now slightly lower of all lorry drivers and of all operE tors and not merely of a maniac fringe.
This leads naturally to the next question. What exact] was Mr. Marples asking his audience to do? The safet record of goods vehicles could be better, he said, "an none of us should be content until it is a great deal better' It is not clear how the members of the T.R.T.A. to whor Mr. Marples was speaking could help to achieve thi desirable end, unless he was suggesting that their ow standards of maintenance and conduct left much to b desired. It is doubtful, to say the least, that this was i his mind, especially in view of his reference to the mania fringe who are unlikely to be members of any association There is very little, however, that responsible operators ca do to curb the excesses of the irresponsible. The task mu! be for the law, guided by Mr. Marples himself.
Is enforcement really doing its job? Mr. Marples ou lined proposals for more frequent and more regula inspection of heavy vehicles and there is useful progre that can be made along these lines. The nagging dout remains that the bad offenders will continue to slip throug the net and that a different approach should be sought. Ttl checks on smoking vehicles should provide a warnin, Although well-publicized and frequent, they have appal
ently led to no improvement. For this the operator blamed, whereas surely the fault lies somewhere in th method?