Shooting ourselves in the foot?
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• I often wondered what happened to the kamikaze pilots of Japan after the Second World War. I now realise they were all appointed to the national executive of the RHA,
I have been an RHA member since 1976 but am now very tempted to defect to the PTA which appears to operate in the same harsh business environment as I do.
I refer first to speed limiters. Grass roots opinion have heard has mostly been against compulsory fitting of speed limiters. We already have the means to stamp out speeding: the tachograph. Any policeman or Dip official in the country is welcome to check tacho charts for any of my vehicles and I can guarantee he will not find speeds in excess of 60mph — my vehicles seldom use motorways because of the nature of local tipping contracts.
However, we are having speed limiters thrust upon us, at a cost of around ,£.500 a vehicle plus the cost of calibration/maintenance which is, as yet, unknown. So what does my trade association do? It recommends mandatory retrospective fitting to all vehicles!
The second issue is anti-skid control. We all know we are to have the dubious benefits and certain expense of anti-skid systems thrust upon us.
I myself fell into the trap of heeding the forceful safety arguments put forward by the ABS suppliers in their dramatic videos and glossy literature, and in 1986 bought a trailer equipped with an anti-lock braking system.
The system on our trailer has developed a fault again recently which keeps up its record of never having worked correctly for more than a month. This involves a round trip of 50 miles to our nearest specialist dealer and probably half a day off the road to rectify the fault.
What a blessing, I think to myself, to have only one trailer fitted with such a system. Imagine my reaction when I read in the trade press that the RHA is trying to pressurise the Dip to make anti-skid brake control compulsory on all trailers.
Are operators aware of what this will entail in terms of cost and time?
To quote the words of a leading trailer manufacturer back in May, this would be "an absolute nightmare for the road haulage industry".
Do the films with vast parcs of pre-1982 trailers, which are often under-used but needed to cover peak demands and to keep major customers happy, realise that they will probably have to spend as much as the current market value of the trailers to meet RHA braking demand proposals to the DTp?
Luckily, the DTp at least is working in a more realistic manner and has not so far bowed to RHA pressure, realising the cost to operators already fighting for survival. Road hauliers are third in the latest Department of Trade list of bankruptcies.
I believe that with 1992 looming fast we must be very careful not to price ourselves out of the European Market by jumping in with two feet on environmental and safety issues, rather than appraising them on a cost/benefit basis.
I salute the DTp for at least taking the view of the reasonable man".
FWL Ellis Worksop, Notts.
0 The RHA does support retrofitting of limiters, but only on 32.5-tonners and above built after August 1990 — Ed.
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