Passing Comments
Page 32
Page 33
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Tail Eats Dog
HAULIERS are angrily asking why the B.R.S. tail should be allowed to wag the road haulage dog. Faced with the decision of British Road Services to increase drivers' wages by 3s. a week, the Road Haulage Wages Council had little option but to follow suit, although the employers' and employees' sides wrangled for 10 hours before the employers finally capitulated. There was less justification for the award than for probably any other made in the past.
The exclusion of B.R.S. from the machinery of the Wages Council is a mistake. The Council should represent all employers and there should be uniformity of wages negotiated freely by the employers on one side and the employees on the other. At present, B.R.S. and the workers line up on one side of the table and independent hauliers on the other. The tail is not only wagging the dog: it is eating it.
Successful Service by the R.A.C.
QOME time ago the Royal Automobile Club
invited communications from road users concerning bad road conditions and, particularly, "black spots." During the past six months, 344 complaints of this nature have been investigated. Of these, 184 were taken up with the highway authorities and in 87 per cent. of these cases remedial action has already been taken, or has been promised. Most complaints accepted by the authorities as requiring attention refer to signposting, road surfaces, obstructions and other danger points. The complaints received are few in relation to the total of road users and the many instances of bad and dangerous road conditions known to exist; however, the success already achieved in a limited field emphasizes the possibilities of the scheme, and road users, whether members of the R.A.C. or not, are asked to consider submitting reports to any office or road patrol of the body. A Writer's Nightmare IT is satisfactory to note that the article "Nightmare 1 On A5," by John Arlott, published in the Evening News on July 7, has elicited some strongly worded protests.
In view of what he alludes to as the most terrifying experience he had ever known on the road, it is curious that, despite the large number of coaches in service, there are comparatively few accidents for which their drivers are responsible. Most of them are picked men who have been at the wheel for years and have spent a much greater part of their lives in driving than does any ordinary driver of a car. That there are a few black sheep amongst them is quite possible, but the great majority is skilled and unwilling foolishly to risk the valuable vehicles they control and the safety, not only of their passengers but of other users of the highway.
Mr. Arlott should have made sure of his facts before venturing into print on such a matter. His knowledge of road transport can be judged by his allusions to the laden weight of coaches as being " not far short of 20 tons." The maximum legal weight of a four-wheeled coach is 12 tons, but most of them have an unladen weight of 6 tons or less, which would mean about 8 tons when carrying, say, 33 people, including the driver.
Their brakes are designed for the work they do and are extremely powerful, whilst the whole of the chassis is normally maintained at the very peak of condition.
It might be a good idea for Mr. Arlon to take a few trips by coach, then he might realize that his experience was either most exceptional or only a nightmare.
Private Television Show. Production
AN interesting adaptation of television was employed by British Ford as part of their display at the Production Exhibition. On their stand were half a dozen standard receivers to which pictures were sent from Dagenham via micro-wave links to Olympia. The cameras were turned on to the latest automatic machines and the assembly lines. Similar views were given by a large projection receiver in a cinema in the gallery.