Met-chief slams bonuses
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BRITAIN'S top policeman hit out this week at lorry operators who pay piece work incentives to their drivers.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Kenneth Newman told Freight Transport Association members on Monday that such incentive payments undermined road safety and should be discouraged.
Sir Kenneth, who was principal guest at the FTA's annual dinner, also encouraged operators to adopt a code of practice for safe driving, and suggested that they compile quarterly accident statistics to encourage safer driving by their workforces.
He added that their statistics could also highlight instances of where poor road design contributes to accidents.
Sir Kenneth's comments echoed FTA president Dennis Hutchings's reminder that spray problems, while barely cured by the mandatory fitment of spray flaps, could be reduced if vehicles are limited to 50mph in wet conditions and if drivers are encouraged to use headlamps in poor visibility.
He and Sir Kenneth urged members to analyse tachograph charts to check for "speed merchants". "Repeated irresponsible acts and omissions should be acted upon," Sir Kenneth added.
Mr Hutchings also rounded on the Greater London Council's plans for a night and weekend lorry ban in its area, saying it was essential that the transport industry should not become a sacrificial offering for a doomed authority. "We cannot allow the GLC to catch transport in its final act of deathbed irresponsibility."
Mr Hutchings described as mind boggling the problems of routeing and scheduling which would be created by a ban in which post-GLC borough councils applied local and inconsistent bans across the capital.
His assertion that the proposed ban would be enforceable was endorsed by Sir Kenneth who said the police's task was made difficult by the 'lumber of exemptions which would permit large numbers of lorries to enter London during the restricted hours.
He added that there would be a considerable temptation and extreme opportunity for operators to evade the ban.