Accident poll boosts lorry image
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• Lorry and bus drivers are perceived to be the least likely of road users to cause accidents, according to a national poll of motorists by the Gallup organisation, for the insurance group General Accident.
In a survey of 1,000 motorists, bus drivers and lorry drivers were both seen to be the safest of road users by 27% of those questioned.
The FTA says "There is some good news in this survey. The road safety of lorries is a message we have been preaching for some time, and it is gratifying to see the hard work we are putting-in for the industry is getting across."
When motorists were asked which drivers were most likely to cause accidents, 43% of respondents answered older drivers, while 40% answered younger drivers.
Overall, 60% of those questioned thought that driving standards are deteriorating on Britain's roads.
Tom Roberts, UK general manager of General Accident, says, "The Gallup poll backs our view that drivers must adopt a much less complacent attitude to their own driving if the problem of road accidents, and their cause, is to be successfully addressed. It is simply not good enough to blame the other guy'. The solution lies in the hands of Britain's road users, who must adopt a much more positive attitude to road safety."
Commercial vehicles are not the main cause of traffic problems on London's arterial roads, claims a new report by the Polytechnic of North London's Geography and Transport Economics and Policy departments.
The report, based on a conference entitled 'Astride the Al Corridor', suggests that most traffic congestion on London's main roads is caused by private motorists driving into London.
Significantly, the report estimates that only 1.75% of traffic driving in London, actually passes right through London.
Martin Woo'house, FTA SE Region assistant secretary, says in the report that between 40% and 50% of trucks that previously went through London, now use the M25.
Most lorry traffic in London starts or ends its journey there and cannot therefore be easily removed without affecting the capital's economic life, claims the report.
Stuart Cole, joint editor of the report, says that the answer to London's transport problems is to persuade commuters to travel by public transport, by reducing fares and increasing investment.