The wrong reasons
Page 21
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We have not always seen eye to eye with the Passenger Vehicle Operators Association on the matter of driving hours in relation to some of the proposals in the Transport Bill. But we applaud the initiative and diligence which this not very wealthy body has shown in researching the effects of driving hours on fatigue and of fatigue upon driving performance. The result of its initial investigations, recorded overleaf, certainly suggest that no published research findings support the proposed reductions on rational grounds of road safety.
The Ministry has recently adopted the praiseworthy principal that legislation on road safety should be based on factual research, not on hunch. Unless it has evidence which it has not so far produced, the Ministry appears to have thrown this principle overboard in proposing hours cuts which, however desirable socially, apparently have no demonstrable road safety basis. In the circumstances, the PVOA seems on strong ground in challenging the Bill's proposals with that well-known Parliamentary cry: "Answer!"