Safe Speed Forums

Quoted from a letter in the Northern Echo today. Who do you think we might be talking about?

The author is the "manager of a regional depot of one of the largest overnight delivery companies in the country". He says his 9 drivers have had no blameworthy accidents in the last 3 years. Another quote is "I say 99% of road hold-ups caused through road traffic accidents are the fault of car drivers and are very rarely the fault of delivery van drivers or lorry drivers. Also when considering the amount of delivery van drivers on the road, a far fewer proportion of them are caught speeding in comparison to Joe Public in his car."

So the government scheme to send drivers of delivery vans on courses to train them to be better drivers is "an appalling waste of public money".

The fact that his drivers drive at night may have something to do with his attitude, but what do you think?

I have exercised self-censorship on my thoughts for the moment.

1) as the manager, it is in his professional interest to make sure that his employees are of a high quality.
2) it is in professional drivers' own interest to try and make sure they do not pickup blameworthy accidents or speeding tickets; they need their licence for their living.
3) Not all of the speedcamera devices work at night, when the drivers are working.
4) vans and trucks are slower (typically) than cars and are less likely (on a motorway) to be doing the sort of speeds that would immediately attract Bib attention.

My comments above are possibles and probables (my disclaimer )
I'm not going to comment on definites, but I don't see why training people on how to do their job better is a waste of money.

it's not, I think the point is that there are plenty of other people around who would benefit more from a little retraining.

That so? How about the jack-knifes, lost loads....hot brakes ... just some of the things we all collectively deal with as "routine" up and down t' country....

Er - lot of the HGVs have limitiers which prevent speeding in some motorway instances as well...and as "stackmonkey" says - most reputable companies will hire the best able to do the job in the first place.

Nothing wrong with training. We have refresher courses every so often and most IAM/RoSPA have their standards re-assesssed every so often as well...

Only a complacent fool thinks he "knows it all" And if trafpol tone up their skills .. and all real serious enthusiasts enjoy looking and reading up on techniques to try out, practise and perfect on a track day ....then again proves the point that tsraining helps

The likes of Rooney, Beckham, (football) Tindall, Corry (Rugby), Clare Gross, Emma Davis., Mc Gee, Wyman, Hutchinson ( cycling , figure skaters, speed skaters, ice hockey stars...all have to pracitise and train to develop their skills (even natural skills) ... so I do not see why anyone objects to training - especially if offered for free! Cost the Mad Cats and the Swiss a small fortune to learn more .... and the" taxpayer general "shelled out to develop me up the career ladder.

Promoting. motivating, encouraging training and a desire to take pride in road sense and skills though, should be extended to all - bikers... cyclists....and all drivers...whatever they drive...

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