MIRA should turn research into practice, says Peter Walker
Page 11
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• In his final speech as president of the Motor Industry Research Association at the Dorchester'Hotel annual luncheon on Wednesday, Lord Rootes told Mr Peter Walker, Secretary of the Department of the Environment, that commercial vehicles did not contribute to environmental hazards. He suggested that those who referred to heavy goods vehicles as "juggernauts" did not realize that an increase in gross vehicle weights would result in a reduction of vehicles on the roads.
"It has become fashionable," he said, "to look upon the motor vehicle almost as a social evil — an instrument of death and
injury, of pollution, noise and frustration. Lord Rootes suggested that it was easy to forget that there were many economic benefits from the use of road vehicles and that the commercial vehicle played a major part in the economic life of Great Britain.
Mr Walker in his reply urged MIRA to turn research into practice and to treat pol lution and noise as matters of urgency. He was certain that the country could enjoy commercial success out of all proportion, to its size provided everyone contributed and he warned the motor industry that demands would be made on it in future in the fields of pollution and noise. "Our demands will be considerable," he said, "but not unreasonable."
The new president of MIRA is Mr M. I. Prichard of the Perkins Engine Company.
E5.5m deal
• By acquiring, in a £5.55m share deal, from the National Freight Corporation the Atlantic Steam Navigation company, European Ferries — the Townsend Thoresen shipping group — will be able to add an East Coast-Holland roll-oni-off service to its existing services between the South Coast and French and Belgian ports.