bird's eye view
Page 45
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
by the Hawk I Golden memory
an it really be only as far back as 1919 that some main roads were laid in patterned ranite setts and others were still in wateriound macadam which gave rise to dust torms in dry weather. The first diesel-engined arries were a decade away, and a petrol mgined machine only exceptionally exceeded i 5-ton load. Heavy haulage was generally he province of the steam wagon or steam raction engine or, over short distances, earns of horses . . . Most driver employment n professional road goods transport was on casual basis."?
Yes, it was 1919 all right, and the situation s remembered in this quotation by Charles Clapper, one-time vice-president of the .nstitute of Transport and for many years tditor of the now-defunct Modern Transport. writes, with other contributors, in the ;olden jubilee edition of the Institute's j ou ma!, ust published, which has a shining gold cover to mark the occasion.
This special issue looks not only at the past but also the future of transport. Among other things, it contains in full the final report of the council's special committee on the future of the Institute.
• Gamesmanship
The secretary and director of Hardings (Transport) Ltd., of Slough, R. Harding, has thought up what he calls "a little party game which is of great educational value although somewhat frustrating".
He has sent me the whole thing and after half an hour I am near to suicide. Little do our Civil Service masters know the traumatic effects of their confounded legal jabberwocky. I can't do better than to publish the puzzle in Mr. Harding's own words :—
"The game is based on Regulation 11(a)(ii) of The Goods Vehicles (Plating and Testing) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 1969 (S.1. 1324), a photo copy of which is attached (and published here). "It is called the Anniversary Game. All that is required is a lot of dates (not the sticky sort) and a pencil and paper. "Contestants are given a copy of the Regulation to read (time allowed: 30 seconds). They are then given two consecutive months from which to work. Then, selecting a month of their own choice, they are to arrive at an anniversary date relative to the last date of the two-month period interpreting the Regulation by a diagram such as that indicated. In this connection, a knowledge of the rhyme 'Thirty days hath September . . etc.' is advantageous.
"The person who arrives at the new anniversary date with the minimum of movements is the winner. The first prize is a VTG 33 and the second prize a free re-test.
"The time allowed for the game is three months.
"On second thoughts, perhaps the sticky dates which grow on trees would be preferable. The Regulations are signed by Richard (much binding in the) Marsh. No wonder we get 'bogged' down.
"Seriously, expressing the regulation in diagrammatical form is a good way to get the hang of it."
Mr. Harding's answer is on page 45.
• Big game
Honest Fred always pays? I'm not so sure. He's just sent roe several hundred poundsworth of notes carrying the legend: "I HOPE to pay." Yes, it's Fred Hope I'm talking about, and the explanation is that the money belongs to a children's game called Roll with the Big-'uns which Self Energising Disc Brake Co. has just produced. The object of the game is to get the big trucks —represented by plastic counters—home on a board which is littered with pitfalls such as shifting loads, faulty wipers and (surprise!) jack-knifing. All good clean fun.
• The end?
Where will it all end? asks a headline in an American journal. They might well ask. I know that the USA is a spacious place compared with our right little, tight little— but look at the figures given recently by US transport secretary John Volpe, which prompted the headline:—
In the USA, automobiles are increasing by 10,000 a day and car usage jumps 40 per cent every eight years. More than 14,000 aircraft each day use the increasingly congested airspace of America, while 150 new private planes are being added to the fleet every week. Motor vehicle registrations have now reached 104,702,000—with cars totalling 86.5m and trucks 18.1m. Phew!
• Multi-shot year Have you seen the Atkinson calendar for 1970? I think it's rather neat. They sent a photographer up the London-Birmingham motorway, chauffe red at 70 mph, and asked him to photograph every Atkinson going the other way. He "shot" 53 on the run, and the company has used colour reproductions of 30 of them as the basis for the calendar. The pictures certainly show transport operators' preference for green, red and blue as the main colours for liveries.