'Everybody is prepared to think the worst of us: guilty until proven innocent.'
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6 e are transport people,
running trucks and moving freight around. It is said we cannot appreciate beautiful things and wonderful countryside: we are Philistines! We have no feelings and cannot display the sensitivity that is the sole preserve of the Greens, the members of Green peace, the environmentalists. Only they care about the countryside, worry about the world we are creating for our children and grandchildren, and have the intelligence to influence what needs to be done.
What utter trash! What nonsense! I get annoyed when we are treated like Philistines. Treated as though we have no interest in the future, no interest in how our country and our world is to change and develop and what we are building for our kids to inherit.
We are not Philistines! We are just as much entitled to our point of view as those well-meaning environmentalists who would have us return to a village economy. I am amazed that these people can often be seen using mobile phones, computers, video phones, four-wheel-drive vehicles and many of the trappings of modern society that they so despise. They also use the Internet. Their latest technique is to blockade business electronically using telephones, faxes, E-mail and computer links. It is a peculiar conviction that uses the very object of its repulsion as weapons. While we are not Philistines, neither are we perfect. Our image with the public is poor. Everybody is prepared to think the worst of us first—we are guilty until proved innocent. And we can't blame anybody but ourselves. We do not have and we do not spend enough time educating the public about how the goods get to the shops, how bags of cement and bricks get to the building site and how exports get to their customers—and at the end of it all, how rubbish disappears. We are timid about our achievments and nervous about publicity. Too often a willingness to help the media has brought bad publicity for the individual because of the media's insatiable desire to dramatise and exaggerate for the delight of the public. The transport industry is not alone in this. But we will be alone if we allow it to frighten us off.We have such a marvellous story to tell. Which other industry con claim to be doing 40% more work with 12% less equipment? That's what our industry has achieved in the past 10 years alone. Our vehicle fleet continues to decline but our productivity goes on growing in spite of increasing congestion and new legislation. If you look back further the improvements and productivity gains are even greater. The vehicles we use now are a vast improvement in terms of emissions and safety than those they replaced. Which other industry has the lowest accident record in its class and the best in Europe—and can claim to be a world leader in safety and quality control to the extent that the rest of Europe, North America, South Africa and Australasia use it as a role model? Why is it that our logistics skills and transport expertise are revered everywhere in the world but in our own national print and broadcast media? We know how good we are—it's high time to spread the word and counter the tide of anti-truck propaganda.
• if you want to sound off about a road transport issue write to features editor Patric Cunnane.