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• ACCIDENTS—AGE OR EXPERIENCE?
Page 41
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THE Minister of Transport is looking into the possibility of gathering more information on how age and experience affect drivers' liability to accidents. This news was given by Mr. Marples in a letter to Mr. R. Gresham Cooke, M.P.
The fact that, in the bad fog on M1 and other roads last January, many vehicles (both lorries and cars) were being driven far too fast for the conditions, did not, in itself, become an argument for reintroducing h.g.v. licences.
Mr. Marples added that there was no reason to suppose a special test for lorry drivers would be any more successful than the current general test in ensuring that, away from the eye of an examiner, drivers continued to use their commonsense and obeyed the Highway Code.
"The idea of the h.g.v. licence is in many ways attractive," said the Minister, "but we do not think that in practice it would help road safety.
"It may sound odd that a man can in theory take a test in a Mini and then step into a 10-tonner and drive it away. But the driver of a heavy lorry is seldom the owner, and I do not believe that in practice employers entrust expensive heavy vehicles to men on so casual a basis as this. My view is borne out by the accident record of heavy goods vehicles, which compares well with that of any class of vehicle on the road.
"To reintroduce special tests would cost quite a lot of trained manpower. I think this could be better employed, from the point of view of safety, in other ways."