Stott agaiii
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IN fluid . •
I have just read the report (CM July 1) that Dr T. J. Hunt claims driver fatigue is mainly "pure hypothesis". He is described as "one of the best authorities on driver fatigue research," but I suggest it is conducted from a comfortable desk, with coffee at 11 am, lunch at noon and tea at 5 pm.
Of course, I am biased after seeing my lorry driver husband fall sleep over his evening meal.
I would like to ask Dr Hunt: Have you ever sat and questioned drivers in transport cafés?
Are you not aware that employers expect the impossible, starting at 4am-home perhaps 7pm if you're lucky?
I wonder if you have to have a week or fortnight's unpaid leave, every three months or so, through "hypothetical fatigue".
Obviously, if you were to ask drivers or employers the truth, they would not admit this because of the threat of prosecution and loss of livelihood. Have you ever questioned doctors about this?
Because of the meagre subsistence allowance, many drivers cat-nap in their cabs. They cannot sleep, their makeshift beds are hard and cold and the hunger pains creep on about 2am.
Have you been in a service station early in the morning and wondered why some drivers are drinking only coffee for breakfast? The luckier may be able to buy toast! Hot stale sandwiches for lunch can be quite appetising, you know. Have you tried any? I'd gladly send a day-old dried cheese sandwich.
I suggest you really find out for yourself; get on the road, look at the wrinkled, wizened, heavy-eyed man of 55 who has been on the road for 35 years!
Find out how many drivers still drive cabs over 10 or 15 years old without bunks, radios, etc, to make life easier. Find out now many tons an average driver lifts by hand during the course of a week if he is unlucky enough to have a flat trailer. Find out how long it takes to rope and sheet his load especially with ropes iced together in winter.
I suggest your "hypothetical fatigue" is rubbish and not realistic. Back to the research, please, and start again.
MRS M. PARKER, Bristol. the only way to approach an on-time operation has been to introduce limiting 'bus only' lanes. Why not lay tyre-width grooves and be done with it?
As an added bonus, the tram operator enjoys a fleet life to make bus companies green. Britain's last public tramway — Blackpool — has a fleet originally built in the 1930s with many years still ahead of it. Where is the bus with a 40-year-plus active life span? RICHARD I. CHARNLEY, Sutton Coldfield.