'EDITOR'S COMMENT
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• A few months ago newspapers in the Los Angeles area of California carried an unusual advertisement. Underneath a stark black and white photograph of empty supermarket shelves ran the words: "A ban on trucks could clear more than the freeway". Trust the Americans to get it right.
How many times does the environmental lobby have to be told that blanket bans benefit no one? And how often does it listen?
Apparently not often enough. Only last week at the RHA Young Executive Section conference the Green Party was calling for night, area, and weekend bans on heavy vehicles. Barring heavy goods vehicles willy nilly is not going to solve the problem of congestion. No matter what others say we can't go back to being an agricultural society of self-contained, self-sustaining communities. We have tasted the personal freedom of transport, and we like it. Take one 38-tanner off the road and what do you have left? Two and a bit 17-tonners ... six 7.5-tanners ... or how about 24 one-tonne panel vans? Is that the way to solve congestion? It is now beyond dispute that the advent of the 38-tonne truck has actually reduced the numbers of HGVs on our roads. Don't take our word for it. Government statistics clearly show that between 1979 and 1988 the HGV parc fell by over 8% — yet freight traffic went up during the some period. Only one in 10 HGVs are 38-tonners, but they account for 40% of goods moved. What's more, it would take 500 cars to accommodate the groceries carried inside an average articulated supermarket lorry. With the arrival of a new national chairman at the RHA, isn't it time that the industry started to crank up its own publicity machine? If we don't hit bock now, we will be hamstrung by bans that make operating a haulage business a misery. It can't have escaped the notice of the industry that while pressure groups attract a lot'of media coverage when it comes to offering viable economic alternatives the voting public is far less emotional. Let's face it, if there really was a more viable alternative for freight wouldn't we already be using it? It is time that the road transport industry, and the trade associations, finally faced up to the challenge and reminded the public just how much it relies on "juggernauts" to live in the 20th Century. If we don't fight back, then we will have to forever hold our peace ... or at least between the hours of 00.00 and 24.00hrs ... on all major roads... bridges ... motorways ... town centres...