Deaths threaten lorry's image
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• In one of the worst weeks for the road transport industry — when three separate lorry accidents killed five people — the Freight Transport Association said that lorries must not become the victims of heated judgments.
Three accidents hit the headlines and damaged the already vulnerable image of the road transport industry.
The first last Tuesday (May 20) at Maidstone, Kent involved a Mercedes-Benz 32.5-tonne vehicle which ploughed into pedestrians, killing three schoolgirls and injuring another two people.
On Saturday, a milk tanker swerved from a head-on collision with a car at Cadmore End, Buckinghamshire, and careered into a 40-year-old mother who was killed.
The third accident on Tuesday this week involved a container lorry which drove into a bus queue at Openshaw, north of Manchester. One person died and three were badly injured.
While public opinion moved against the road transport industry, FTA planning and traffic services manager Don McIntyre this week said the exact causes of the accidents must be established before blame is allocated.
It is a bit early to be mak ing judgments about responsibilities and on the whole issue of lorries in towns," he said.
Department of Transport provisional figures show that fatal accidents involving commercial vehicles fell in total last year, despite a 4% growth in the number of vans, trucks, buses and coaches on British roads.
They also show that 216 were killed last year in road accidents involving commercial vehicles — a drop of 7% on the previous year.
Most details are known about the Maidstone accident. Eye witnesses say that the lorry, which belongs to local haulage firm, A Wood and Sons (Detling), crashed into the children after hitting a lamp post and wall on the oneway section of the A229. It had been raining.
There are rumours that the vehicle's load sensing device had developed a fault, but police and Department of Transport vehicle examiners currently engaged on inspecting the vehicle, refuse to comment before the coroner's report.
Junior Transport Minister Peter Bottomley has asked for a full report of the accident.
Maidstone police describe feelings against the road transport industry as high.