'The charter would call for a louder voice for truck drivers'
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umerous police checks across the country constantly identify unsafe trucks, untrained drivers, and abuse of traffic laws, but despite this, nobody is helping the transport industry improve safety standards.
Instead the transport industry is being punished through poor rates, high dery prices, high tyre costs, and expensive road tax. Drivers suffer fatigue because they are forced to work long shifts, queuing for hours to drop off goods, Whatever vehicle you drive it is a lethal weapon, and something needs to be done urgently about safety standards.
I have decided to launch a nationwide campaign for higher standards called North West HGV drivers for public safety and drivers' rights. Two weeks ago I held a meeting to herald the start of this campaign, and 20 drivers turned up along with a Health and Safety Executive official, a traffic examiner, and a Green party spokesman.
It was decided that we would draw up a "drivers' charter" which we could then send to MPs, government departments and haulage companies. This charter would be circulated first of all in the Manchester area, where I am based, but then I expect to distribute it nationally.
The charter would first call for greater enforcement of safety standards across the country. There are many bodies that enforce various aspects of safety, from vehicle examiners and traffic examiners to traffic police, and I believe that these bodies should communicate more with each other to identify areas where safety standards are lacking.
They could do this by setting up an office which monitors all safety checks across the country. This office would then be able to establish a national picture of levels of safety in the industry and it would be easier to target problem areas.
The charter would also call for a louder voice for truck drivers. Drivers would be invited to sit on safety committees, such as those in local councils. At present emergency service officials and local councillors sit on local safety committees, but drivers who might regularly carry dangerous goods on Britain's roads are not invited — they should be.
The question of training will be another important part of the charter. It is vital that drivers get the right training for their job — the government should publicise necessary training and make it cheap. For example, we should have more information about the questions that will be asked in the new exams that dangerous-goods drivers have to sit by law from this summer. Are drivers going to have to receive expensive training before they will be able to pass them? Enforcement officers should make sure they check whether people are taking the exams.
The charter will also call for a minimum rate for haulage work. If hauliers are not paid adequately, how can they have adequate safety standards? And drivers should not have to work for ridiculously long shifts through the rolling week — this should be made illegal. y
For more information about the campaign, call Jack Crossfield on 061-301 4623 or write to him at 32 Fold Avenue, Droylsden, Manchester M35 7DE. 0 If you want to Sound Off about something that annoys you, please phone features editor May Williams on 081-652 3678.