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Options for operators irked by 450km limit
Page 62
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SUSPECT that a good deal of our legislation is stupid, but lo not always find it easy to give the reasons. We should be oful for the rare occasions when something ridiculous 3s to the surface and is self-evident.
Dm this point of view, it would be a pity if the ultimate ations on drivers' hours did not bring into force the present tion to exempt vehicles with an operational tachograph from istriction to 450km in a single day.
e restriction is absurd in itself. It applies to non-rigid goods les exceeding 20 tonnes permitted gross weight or any vehicle g more than one trailer. On a journey almost entirely over 'ways, these vehicles could cover the 450km (or 280 miles) in derably less time than the eight hours that will ultimately be aximum driving day.
'other roads and in the same time drivers would be hard put to :over the distance while keeping within the prescribed speed . The commercial advantage of using the motorways is 'ore lessened by the new restriction, although it is in every way preferable that heavy goods traffic should travel on the 11 roads designed for it.
a tachograph. . .
?,re are options for the operator who is irked by the restriction.
n send two men with the vehicle — and. in most cases this I be uneconomic — or, as I have said, he can fit and use a )raph.
nost cases, he would probably prefer to take the latter course. fficulty in the UK is that the driver, or his union — which may the same thing, but leads to the same result — may make it hat he will not drive the vehicle if the instrument is fitted, let used.
awhere in the EEC, this problem apparently does not arise. It pted that the tachograph has advantages for the driver as well operator. The kindly ones in Brussels may well suppose that eruption provided by the tachograph gives British operators y way out of the restriction on mileage.
ch virtue is thus attributed to the tachograph. Its user and its can be trusted to conduct themselves properly even when o beyond the limit to which their less worthy fellow-operators und. The tachograph is the passport to freedom as well as to tability.
iently the 4-50krw rule -ts not to be taken too seriously by 3-minded people. Otherwise, it has introduced a principle not illy followed elsewhere in society.
person who wears a watch is not excused from punctuality. usician with his own metronome is not entitled to ignore the conductor. The Crusader who fitted his wife with a chastity belt di not also give her the key.
There may be reasons for the tachograph exemption that hay not been disclosed. Operators wishing. to give their drivers high wages through a productivity deal rather than by contravening th Government's guidelines could suggest that the fitting of tachograph has the desired effect by enabling a driver to cover greater distance in his working day.
In other respects the coming regulations can only lead to decrease in productivity as the transport operator understands it His aim is to make the maximum use of each vehicle in his fleet, an of each driver. The existing limits on hours of work give him muc greater freedom than is now proposed to deploy his resources to th best effect.
To maintain the same level of business, he will have to take o more staff and possibly acquire extra vehicles. The drivers may b working to a different time-scale, but they will not be satisfied wit less pay.
Road haulage charges will have to go up whatever the verdict o the reconstituted Price Commission, Own-account operators wil feel the effect in equal measure. Ian Phillips, the ETA president, ha gone further. He has said that the significance cannot be measured in cost alone, and has described the disruptive effect on distribution systems as "frightening".
Minister's viewpoint Transport Minister William Rodgers looks at the subject from different viewpoint. The EEC agreement to the phasing of th changes in hours over three years was, in his opinion and hi wording, a -triumph-.
He may feel that the compromise on tachographs deserves equal praise. it is not his fault that he is the last of a succession of Ministers who have engaged in a tug-of-war with the EEC for so long that many items which have been particularly strongly contested no longer seem relevant to road safety or to any other considerations. A cruel joke to play at Christmas on children one does not like is to challenge them to make one complete picture from the pieces of two jigsaw puzzles mixed together. Some such task has been set for the hapless Minister. It is no wonder that in the end some of the legislation looks out of place.