HEAVY GOODS LICENCE URGED AGAIN
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NAORE mobile police, improved roads IVI and warning signs, reappraisals of speed limits, a wider use of safety belts . . these were some of the measures to combat death and injury on the roads suggested during an all-day debate on accidents in the Commons.
Throughout the debate there were constant references to the fog accidents on the motorways, but there was little repetition of the charges which had been levelled against lorry drivers.
Indeed, Sir Harwood Harrison (Tory, Eye) paid tribute to the many firms who had excellent records among their fleet of drivers, and suggested that they should devote more time not only to the ability of their recognized drivers but also to the members of their office and factory staffs, who drove to work in increasing numbers.
Mr. Dudley Smith (Tory, Brentford and Chiswick)—who was seriously injured in an accident three years ago—accused many lorry and van drivers of exceeding speed limits without the slightest twinge of conscience, "Yet they bear a special responsibility because of the Size and weight of their vehicles. The police are far too indulgent towards them, as are some magistrates ",
he said. I do not think that magistrates should always take into account the fact that a man's licence should not necessarily be removed because his livelihood
depends on his being allowed to drive added Mr. Smith. " A high degree of responsibility is called for from those who earn their living by driving."
Mr. Roger Gresham Cooke (Tory, Twickenham) repeated his demand for a return to the pre-war special test for drivers of heavy goods vehicles. " Before the war the heavy goods vehicle driver was known as a knight of the road, but now, as we have heard, these drivers arc becoming rather MI cowboys ", he said.
Any lad of 21 who had taken out a licence on a light car could immediately drive a 20-tonner if his employer so employed him, whereas before the war it was necessary to have a special licence to drive a vehicle of three tons or more. Possibly we should make the figure five tons, went on Mr. Cooke, but nevertheless that kind of licence should be reintroduced.
Mr. Marples -dismissed the idea— suggested •by Mr. George Strauss—of special speed limits in fog as being "in cloud cuckoo land ". If there was a speed limit motorists could and did go up to it. It encouraged them, he said.
If one said that 15 m.p.h. was safe, then that 15 m.p.h. was not safe, and kept telling motorists that, every few minutes there would be confusion and chaos. He was certain that this idea would get no support in any of the technical Press.