bird's eye view by the Hawk
Page 47
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• Minicure
I've long been a supporter of mini things. My happiest driving memories are of my three years with an early Mini, when it was an unknown quantity and one could do things — quite safely — that left drivers of more staid vehicles gasping. And in recent years I've watched the rise and fall (especially the rise) of the miniskirt with devoted attention.
Now Pm hooked on mini-roundabouts, and so should all road users be. Let us sing their praises in the hope of getting more, quicker.
At two points on one of my regular driving routes mini-roundabouts have been introduced at inadequate cross-roads. The result has been little short of miraculous — and at minimum cost. The worst case, where trucks, buses and cars fought to get across one of those irritating "no-clearpriority" junctions, a double mini-roundabout has produced a swift, safe flow of traffic.
All that's been done is to paint some priority lines on the road, plus some lane lines and arrows, and then plonk two giant tractor tyres painted white, in the right spots to act as "pivot points" for the system. And it works like a dream.
I believe this idea was originated by the Road Research Laboratory, before it became TRRL. One of their best wheezes. Can't we make some export cash out of the system?
• Speed and service
I'm sure the operator associations and the trade unions will have some comments to make about motorway service area standards, now that the appropriately named Mr Speed, DoE Parliamentary UnderSecretary, has announced that the DoE is to hold a national opinion poll among users.
The fact that Mr Speed is shortly meeting service area operators "to determine how improvements can be made" suggests that the inquiry will start with a nice bias in the right direction — ie that Something Needs to Be Done.
It would be unfair to damn all the service areas but most of the ones I've used have been pretty appalling. Even where the service in the cafes and restaurants is cheerful and willing, the surroundings are too often dirty and neglected.
But the thing about which I have complained longest and loudest is the most difficult to put right — the dreadful layout of most of the motorway areas. Their traffic circulation systems are crazy, their parking areas inadequate, and their "people movement" patterns totally illogical. It is seldom obvious where the driver is meant to go when he enters a service area; and the same lack of logical flow extends to the interior of the buildings.
• No exam for Grandad
The trend — or mania? — towards stiffer qualifications for drivers has now hit the United States. From July 1, drivers of commercial vehicles operating in interstate or foreign commerce must successfully complete a written examination on safety regulations as a prerequisite of their qualification to drive.
Earlier moves to require a written exam to be passed were withdrawn in 1970 because of opposition from the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission. This body deemed that written tests would discriminate against members of minority groups seeking employment, retention or promotion.
Now, a new "validated" examination has been devised — a set of four written exam forms together with instructions for their administration and answer sheets. Field tests have apparently shown that the new tests do not discriminate against minority groups.
Drivers employed before July 1 1973 will enjoy exemption from examination under a so-called grandfather clause. Newcomers will have to answer at least 70 per cent of the questions (40 correct answers in Form A or B; 46 correct answers in Form C or D.) If the many errors in LDoY Highway Code tests are any guide, written tests would weed out a lot of potential drivers should similar requirements be mandatory in Britain before long. And won't the clever "grandsons" be tempted to demand higher pay than their "grandads?"
• Le Chunnel
Understandably, everyone was being very bonhomous and diplomatic at the annual dinner of the Chartered Institute of Transport at the Dorchester last Friday, because the guest of honour was the French Ambassador.
His Excellency M de Beaumarchais was equally diplomatic in his speech, but it appeared that he was doing a little bit of promoting the Channel Tunnel at the same time. He said, for instance, that he thought a physical link between Britain and the "isolated" Continent would appropriately cement the UK's entry into the EEC.
Everyone seems to assume that the old military objections to the tunnel, stemming from Bonaparte days, are dead, but I wonder. It would be such an obvious and potentially disastrous target for bombers of the IRA and other .aggrieved gentry. We may yet see the whole scheme founder on a military rock.
• Brief briefing
That leaflet Lorries and the environment which the FTA has been distributing to MPs, organizations, environmentalists and the like really is a most useful pocket document for road transport people to have handy. It provides telling answers to so many of the wild charges flung out in conversation — you know, when you think afterwards "I wish I'd remembered to say so-andso."
It's available free from any FTA office (the hq is at Sunley House, Bedford Park, Croydon CR9) and the Association tells me it's having the hoped-for effect. Local authorities, for example, are asking for extra copies for their appropriate committees.
If we all pull hard in approximately the same direction, we really shall soon have a public much better educated about road transport.