Trailers (3)
Page 69
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IN the first article of this series on drawbar trailers I pointed out that the unpopularity of this type, particularly when compared with artics, was due to the need for the former type to carry a mate, or attendant as he is called in the regulations. Regulation 115 of the Construction and Use Regulations gives the following list where the attendant is not required: artics; two-wheeled trailer drawn by a motor car or motorcycle; four-wheeled trailer with close coupled wheels on each side drawn by a motor car; where a motor tractor is drawing any closed trailer specially constructed and used for carrying meat between docks and railway stations or between wholesale markets and docks or railway stations.
Motor tractors are also exempt when drawing a machine or implement used for the purpose of the maintenance, repair or cleansing of roads or any trailer designed for and used in connection with street cleansing, refuse collection, or the collection or disposal of the contents of gullies or cesspools.
Also exempt from the need for attendants are works trucks drawing a works trailer where the unladen weight of each vehicle does not exceed 30cwt; gas trailers drawn by motor cars and heavy motor cars; trailers fitted with overrun brakes; broken-down vehicles being towed by an ambulance tow or suspended tow; trailers of the Armed Services if the driver of the towing vehicle can apply the trailer brakes.
If the vehicle does not come within these exemptions then in the case of tractors, heavy motor cars and motor cars one attendant additional to the driver must be carried on the vehicle or trailer. In the case of locomotives one mate is required per trailer.
Section 186 of the Road Traffic Act 1960 requires -statutory attendantsto keep records of hours worked in the same way as drivers if the vehicle is authorized to be used under a carrier's licence, but the attendant is not restricted to the hours he may work and to the periods of rest he must take as the driver is.
The number of trailers which may be drawn is governed by Section 69 of the 1960 Road Traffic Act. A locomotive, that is a vehicle over 71 tons which is not constructed itself to carry a load, is allowed to haul three trailers which may be empty or loaded. A motor tractor, a similar vehicle to the locomotive except that it is under 7-?, tons, is permitted to draw two unladen or one laden trailer. A heavy motor car or motor car can only draw one trailer.
Special provision is made in the same section for towing a broken-down artic. If the attic is unladen it can be treated as one trailer and therefore can be towed by a normal rigid truck. If it is laden it can only be legally drawn by a vehicle in the locomotive class because, as stated, they are the only type of vehicle permitted to draw more than one laden trailer.
Next week I hope to deal with a few of the miscellaneous requirements of the law concerning trailers such as wings, springs and trailer plate.
It is clearly not a stupendous task to bring about a common syllabus and, in doing so, to modify and improve the existing subjects. In this connection, the IoT proposals for a new subject grouping should be borne in mind. But these changes arc not fundamental and the existing structure is maintained. For example, in the Graduateship (to be re-named Intermediate) English is omitted in favour of "communication", "statistics" is substituted for the general economics paper and there are modifications to the geography syllabus.
Proposals in the Associate Membership, to be more fittingly entitled "Final examination", include a new course entitled "The planning and control of transport networks". There are also modifications in the transport management paper.
A more complex exercise concerns entrance qualifications. The IoT is stiffening its requirements to five GCE Ordinary level subjects in relevant subjects while the 1TA and the IoTA have no obligatory entrance qualifications.
I have always felt that a delicate balance must be effected between being too inflexible but, at the same time, ensuring that those taking an examination scheme will benefit from the course and have a reasonable chance of success. It is not easy to find this balance and a compromise is necessary with experience and age being important factors to put in the scales.
Indeed, a spirit of compromise and goodwill is vital to effect all these changes—and the matter is now urgent. After all, preserving viable classes must be the top priority. Without these, any examination scheme is drained of its life-blood.