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NATURAL BORN DRIVERS
Page 9
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Our Mystery Man looks at the demands made on our highly pi drivers and refleds on the dar that will be caused if driving standards are allowed to slip.
Four words: Weapons of Mass Destruction. No, not the or Saddam may or may not have had, but the ones we allow highly paid, professional drivers out in day after day. Bece in the wrong hands there are few finer WMDs than a 44-to artic on a bad day. Perhaps I could market the concept at next international arms conference. After all, in the hands a semi-professional, all the obstacles to progress in war, such as bridges, concrete reinforced bollards, trees, even buildings, can be flattened by a well-aimed artic.
If you detect a note of irony in my style this month, may I refer you back tc Commercial Motor's issue of 8 January in which I accurat( predicted the potential mayhem caused by new drivers a those on the driving merry-go-round. Regrettably, many o fears have already come true.
If the totality of the situation. to coin a WMD expression that even older, very experienced drivers cannot perform daily duties without hitting something, then what chance c have with the inexperienced?
As we all know, the industry is changing. Drivers are entering it from other walks of life, attracted by the high& wages, and the free(er) working regime. However, a true driver is not manufactured: he or she is born with a natur talent... an indefinable ability to co-ordinate brain with linAwareness, foresight, and mechanical sympathy all pl.a their part. Add to that the need for numeracy, literacy an( excellent grasp of geography and it's not difficult to see we have a problem finding good drivers.
All of this is not good news for our accountants. Many our costs are predictable these days; trucks are more relis increased tyre technology means less wear and fewer blc outs; and synthetic lubricants seem to make engines last • ever, so our R&M packages are fair.
The one big hole in our accounting is damage. Oddly, probably matters little in the long run whether it is of the ins variety or uninsured we end up paying, one way or the c Has it been accounted for? Of course not! "A true driver is not manufactured: he born with a natural co-ordinate brain wi