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30 m.p.h. By Goodwill
Page 43
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POSTERITY will remember Mr. Harold Watkinson as the Minister of Transport who, unlike his predecessors, took practical steps to grapple with the problem of the 20 m.p.h. limit on heavy goods vehicles. Putting partisan enthusiasm on one side, it must be agreed that the Minister has acted wisely in trying not to force the hands of the employers or the unions by making a compulsory Order, which his constitutional powers allow him to do. Lasting satisfaction is more likely to ensue from industrial negotiation than from arbitrary Government action, no matter how constitutional it may be.
Mr. Watkinson announced in the House of Commons last week that he would probably lay. an Order for an increase in the speed limit on heavy goods vehicles from 20 m.p.h. to 30 m.p.h. fairly soon after the House returned from the summer recess. The Road Haulage Association, British Road Services and the unions would then have a further four months to reach agreement. The Order would set a future date for its operation. That date would be made known early next year, so that manufacturers would have adequate notice.
Spirit of Inquiry Great credit is due to Mr. Watkinson for having taken the initiative in bringing the parties together again after a lapse of a year. His object was not to coerce them into negotiation, but to inquire into the differences between them. His conciliatory attitude seems to have stimulated goodwill, but the difficulty and delicacy of the negotiations cannot be over-emphasized.
The Minister said that common ground had been found by the parties on certain general principles, one of which was that no man should be worse off because he was driving at a higher average speed. The implication is that he would be guaranteed against loss of earnings.
To do so by a general increase in wages would not only be unfair to many operators, but would be impracticable -under the present system of classifying statutory wages by payload capacity. The alternative appears to be some form of bonus to compensate a man for loss of overtime payment for completing in a normal working day a journey which, at a maximum of 20 m.p.h., would have taken an appreciably longer time.
One of the most difficult union conditions to satisfy is that the observance of agreed schedules should become one of the terms of a licence. The precedent of bus operation is of no assistance, because few goods vehicles run to timetable on regular, defined routes. The only solution seems to be to make it a condition of a licence that no schedule shall involve a breach of the speed limit.
Variations in Speed Here, again, difficulty arises, because an extended series of wits conducted early last year by The Commercial Motor with an articulated vehicle laden to nearly 19 tons gross, showed that whereas from Swansea to London an average running speed of almost 24 m.p.h. could be maintained without exceeding 30 m.p.h., the most that could be expected on the Liverpool-Newcastleupon-Tyne route was 191 m.p.h. The observance of such a condition as the unions contemplate would require a trial run to be made over each proposed route before a schedule could be set.
Possibly the least onerous demand to satisfy is that calling for closer control Of. the maintenance of vehicles. The implication is that a certificate of fitness should be granted to every heavy goods vehicle. Although the proposal is irksome, reputable operators would, in their own interests, wish to maintain their lorries to the standard which such a certificate would impose, and there would be no great hardship.
The Minister made it clear that vehicles towing drawbar trailers would still be limited to 20 m.p.h. Articulated vehicles will, presumably, be allowed the higher limit. The Commercial Motor tests have proved conclusively that they are entirely safe at a speed of 30 rn.p.h. and it would be inequitable to exclude them from the concession.
Operators and manufacturers earnestly hope that both sides to the negotiations will show a spirit of conciliation and reach a just settlement.