Open the Purse
Page 37
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ALTHOUGH the Lorry Driver of the Year Competition is financially in low water, members of the national organizing committee are undaunted. They are more than ever convinced of the value of the competition, and are determined not only that its scope shall be widened, but also that the standard of performance, already generally high, shall be raised.
This year's competition was run with strict economy, but a small deficit was inevitable. This will have to be made good from the slender resources of the five road safety committees who sponsored the eliminating rounds.
Money the Bugbear As the competition grows, finance will become an even more pressing problem. There is a strong case for an annual grant from the road safety funds of the Ministry of Transport. The competition is making a material contribution to safety on the roads by improving the standard of skill of goodsvehicle drivers, and by enabling them to set an even greater example to other drivers. At present the entire cost is being borne by the local road safety committees, by operators who enter their drivers, and by one or two commercial interests which pay for advertising rights.
The competition has, however, national implications, and is now extending into the international field. The international competition staged by Les Routiers, from which two British drivers this year emerged supreme, has .powerful commercial backing and is well endowed. The penniless state of the British contest is a stigma that should be removed by official recognition of the valuable work that is being done to increase safety on the roads and to promote friendly relations with other countries.
If Britain can afford to spend millions a year on making the country safe against attack, she can also afford to contribute £1,000 a year to a cause which is helping to reduce accidents on the road.
The national organizing committee are now having to solicit aid from manufacturers. One maker, anticipating a decision of the committee to use a standard ' type of vehicle in determining the winner of the title, Lorry Driver of the Year, has offered to pay £250 for the right to supply two vehicles for the competition. The proposition is to be put up to other manufacturers, and it is no Secret that the honour of supplying the test vehicles will go to the highest bidder.
Large cash prizes are to be deplored, but sound finance is essential Rightly, the committee are strongly opposed to the Continental idea of using two test vehicles to be driven in turn by contestants in the eliminating and final rounds. This system has financial advantages, but it would destroy the whole conceptof the British contest as a movement to promote road safety, and would reduce it to the level of professional sport.
The representative from Portsmouth said last week that if anything of this kind occurred, his local committee would withdraw at once from the competition The sentiment was applauded.
Forestalling Grievances There is, however, merit in the proposal that the class winners in the final contest shall each drive a standard vehicle to decide the supreme champion. It will remove any sense of grievance, however unjustified, if a light-van driver should again become Lorry Driver of the Year.
This year's title holder proved in Paris that he was as competent with a large left-hand-drive lorry as he was with the 5-cwt. vehicle that he normally handled. In future, a similarly heavy onus of proof is to be imposed on the select few who reach the final contest.
It is vital that in the eliminating rounds and in the heats for the final competition, drivers should handle their own vehicles. An important object of the competition is the promotion of a high standard of mechanical fitness in vehicles, as well as 'Skill in drivers. That aim can be achieved only by allowing entrants' own vehicles to be used: This is a matter on which the committee are happily unanimous.