Nursing opinion
Page 29
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One section of the prize-winning RHA essay is especially topical: the image of road transport. Among other things it asks that hostile letters in the national newspapers should get straight answers. Operators can implement this suggestion right away, by firing some answering shots in the "44-ton" campaign which is now brewing.
Whenever road transport feels itself threatened—whether by nationalization, a Transport Bill or some swingeing tax increase—it seeks to enlist public support in protest. But what it fails to do, and has failed consistently to do, is nurse and nurture public opinion in the periods between these crises.
The 44-ton campaign is a case in point. It is obvious from the correspondence in some Sunday papers in particular that forces are being marshalled to oppose the planned increases in vehicle weights. Even if some of the criticisms are wide of the mark, public concern is understandable, mainly because the public is only getting one side of the picture.
This is the moment for letters, advertisements, interviews and the rest to project a sober, factual and reassuring. message; and not just from road-haulage but from the whole field of road goods transport. By constantly losing battles, the industry can't be hopeful of winning wars.