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Who pays for rollovers?

28th September 2006
Page 9
Page 9, 28th September 2006 — Who pays for rollovers?
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

No-one sets out to dump a truck on its side. But Barry Proctor points out that this is an avoidable problem — and he suggests a radical solution.

Right let's talk rollovers. Sadly, I'm not about to tell you I've just won £27m on the lottery and am about to retire to a small Caribbean island. The sort of rollovers I'm on about are the ones that close motorways for hours at a time.

What puzzles me is why these accidents are becoming more and more common. I can only assume the vast majority are down to human error, be it drivers, warehouse staff or even gaffers who are at fault.

Drivers are to blame for travelling too fasttight-radius motorway sliproads and roundabouts are favourite locations for rollovers. Warehouse staff are to blame for poor loading of double-deck trailers — a lack of experience, or possibly care, means heavy goods get placed on the top deck making the truck extremely unstable.

And the people in charge of haulage firms are to blame for a lack of diligence when recruiting drivers, agency or permanent, to ensure they have adequate experience of high-sided vehicles. Just because a driver has an LGV licence doesn't mean he or she has the necessary level of experience. Some inexperienced drivers are accidents waiting to happen.

I don't believe operators take rollover accidents lightly, but perhaps the easiest way to eradicate them would be to charge the operators Involved In rollovers the cost of closing a motorway for two hours. That would soon bring them to a halt.

Barry Proctor owns Barry Proctor Services, which is based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.

Tags

People: Barry Proctor
Locations: Stoke, Stoke-on-Trent

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