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Code Questionnaire Picks the Best

4th October 1957, Page 62
4th October 1957
Page 62
Page 65
Page 62, 4th October 1957 — Code Questionnaire Picks the Best
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

HAD not the organizers of the Scottish Commercial Driver of the Year Competition included a road section and a Highway Code questionnaire in the finals held at Stockbridge, near Linlithgow, last Saturday, it would have been impossible to have decided the winner as 34 of the 63 contestants went through thc initial three manceuvring tests without loss a marks.

The new Scottish champion is A. Brown (Albion, Glasgow Hiring Co., Ltd.), who not only was the highestscoring class winner but also gained a commanding total of marks in the final three manceuvring tests which the class winners undertook.

The questionnaire was hard, and only those drivers with a thorough knowledge of the Code could tackle it. Best attempts were made by S. Cunningham (Commer. John Barrie (Contractors), Ltd.), and Brown, each with 17 marks out of 20. J. G. Boyne, (Austin, Scottish Oils and Shell-Mex, Ltd.), a class winner, and A. Aird, (Austin, South of Scotland Electricity Board, Glasgow), each scored 161.

Two other class winners, P. Allan, (Thames, Scottish Gas Board, Glasgow), and A. Frizzell, (Leyland. Keil. and Cawder, Ltd., Glasgow), largely owed their success to small penalties

incurred in the questionnaire. About two-thirds of the drivers put themselves beyond the pale with their answers.

The 10.4-mile road section, on which there were five checkpoints, included some awkward turnings and blind bends in Linlithgow, and some secondary roads with tight corners. No driver teturned full marks, hut of the five who dropped only one mark, four went on to win their classes. They were Brow n, the eventual outright winner, A. Robertson. (B.M.C., Scottish C.W.S., Ltd., Dundee), R. Neill, (Bedford, Scottish Oils and Shell-Mex, Ltd., Glasgow), and P. Haynes, (Commer, Robert Frost and Son, Ltd., Edinburgh).

The first of the initial tests involved driving forward into a box, a mantruvre entailing an S-bend, reversing out of the box, and driving forward again through two gaps to the finishing line. The second entailed driving forward through a gap to a line, reversing from this line through another gap, and finally driving forward through the first gap to another line. Thus three

The new Scottish champion, A. Brown, owes his success largely to a faultless performance in the initial niconeuvring tests and the loss of few points on the road section and Highway .Code questionnaire.

"shunts" were performed, each requiring some turning of the steering wheel.

The third test took place in an arena with a pylon in the middle Starting from a point at 12 o'clock on the circumference, drivers had to go forward around the pylon to 3 o'clock, then reverse around the pylon to 6 o'clock, and finally drive forward around the pylon to 9 o'clock. These tests were• open to criticism that they scarcely simulated everyday driving conditions and did not prove difficult enough.

This was afterwards acknowledged by the organizers, who, with only the 1956 series of contests behind them, had the benefit of only a set of extremely hard tests— which protracted proceedings intolerably last year —as a guide. Next year the ideal compromise may be struck. Eleven drivers gained less than full marks in the first test, 19 in the second and 12 in the third. The three tests selected for the class winners to undergo, to determine the outright champion, did, however, produce a variety of results. The first involved parking the vehicle into a kerbside space 34 times as long as the vehicle. Brown put himself into an unassailable position by losing no marks in this manceuvre. Second-best man was Frizzell with 66-} per cent., followed by . Boyne with 61 per cent.

In the second, the driver started his vehicle from the central of three parallel lanes, those to each side of him being adjusted in width to allow him 6 in. of clearance on each side when he entered them. He had to drive out, turn and go forward into one of the outer lanes, and then reverse into the other. Allan and Frizzell lost no marks; Brown and Neill one each and the other finalists two each.

For the third test, two parallel lines were marked on the ground 1 ft. 6 in. apart. Drivers had to make two movements, one to park with their off-side wheels between these lines, and the other so to place the near-side wheels. Frizzell and Boyne each scored 98 per cent., Robertson 94 per cent. and Brown 83 per cent., five points fewer than Neill.

In the earlier proceedings, John Scott (Maudslay, British Road Services, Linlithgow), last year's champion, was unplaced in his class, largely because of a low mark for the questionnaire. He lost no marks in the manoeuvring tests.

In Class E, there were only two eightwheelers. The other vehicles were two six-wheelers with single front axles, a Leyland Steer, and six four-wheelers, including Brown's Albion. The eightwheeler exponents, James Ewan (Leyland, Esso Petroleum Co., Ltd.), and James Lindsay (Leyland, B.R.S., Aberdeen), shrugged off their handicap by dropping no points in the manoeuvring trials.

Prizes were presented by Mr. A. Prentice, chairman. of the Scottish Section of the Institute of Transport.


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