The Industry, in 1938
Page 1
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
There is Reason to Believe that Road Transport is Winning Through to Security
0-MORROW marks the Commencement of a New Year, and we trust that jt will be an excellent one for road transport in all its phases. Certainly the auguries are better than they were at the commencement of 1937. The enhanced activities of the associations, the strong pleas on behalf of the industry put forward by bodies which appreciate the great value of transport by road, although not themselves actively engaged in the business of road transport, and the increasing strength of the efforts of the British Road Federation, are most encouraging. Trade and industry, and even the general public, are . awakening to the difficulties which will be encountered by them if hauliers and passengervehicle operators be further restricted or denied that degree of expansion which is justified by the continual improvement in the business of the nation.
We hope, also, that the road policy of the Government will leave the narrow grooves in which it now runs, and embrace some more advanced scheme for the construction of highways of industrial and tactical importance. The call for these is becoming more and more insistent, for both operators and the public are beginning to .realize that the provision of such roads constitutes the most important factor in the reduction. Of accidents, especially fatalities, apart from the great economic advantages which would accrue.
It is most probable that before 1938 draws to a close the wages of drivers will have been placed on a better and more consistent level, in accorcL ance with the proposals contained in the Baillie Report, and that there will be a considerable measure of rate standardization which will do much to circumvent the rate cutter.
Fleets are steadily being rejuvenated and maintenance methods improved—points which go far towards rendering road* transport still better equipped to meet efficiently and economically the urgent demands for service which the trade and industry of the country are making on it.
Another excellent sign is the increase in the overseas sales of our commercial vehicles. Buyers in many countries are becoming convinced that although British-built vehicles may not be so cheap in first cost as some others, yet their strength and reliability are such as quickly to compensate for this, and there is little doubt that, with such an opinion steadily gaining ground, the demand will expand.