IICOMMENT HANG FIRE • The three recent horrific fatal accidents,
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in Maidstone, Manchester and Cadmore End involving trucks and pedestrians, are bound to result in a public outcry for something to be done about "these lorry menaces." There might even be a Parliamentary question for the new Transport Secretary along the lines of "What legislation does he propose to introduce to stop tragedies like this recurring?"
John Moore has a reputation for being a man of action and he belongs to a Government which time and again of late, particularly in the field of road transport, has demonstrated that its preferred solution to almost any perceived problem is to do something quickly, with scant regard for the real effectiveness of that something.
All this leads to the possibility, if not probability, that the Government will react too quickly and in the wrong way to these accidents, as it already has with coach accidents and speed limiters.
Before even considering any action it should surely wait for the results of its own Department of Transport inspectors' painstaking examinations of the vehicles concerned and for the police reports on the accidents, including tachograph chart analysis, and publish these as soon as possible. There is already far too much secrecy at the Dip over accident investigation.
What CV operators should do now is what they generally have shrunk from doing for far too long. That is to take every opportunity to explain to the general public the excellent safety record of trucks and buses compared with other vehicles. That is not to say that there is room for any complacency whatsoever among drivers, maintenance staff, fleet managers or anyone concerned with commercial vehicle safety. No matter what the annual statistics show, how can there be when children are still being killed on our roads?
But real improvements in road safety, which mean less likelihood of the Maidstone and Manchester tragedies ever being repeated, will always be more likely to result from changes in people's attitudes than from any legislation.
The latest, most sophisticated anti-lock brake system cannot prevent a driver from driving in an unsafe manner if he has a mind to; nor can any speed limiter.
The nightshift fitter who takes an extra 10 minutes to double check the operation of a load sensing valve cannot expect any accolades. The attitude of mind that makes him do so must be encouraged somehow.