NEWS DRIVERS
12 TRUCKING August 2019 http://www.truckingmag.co.uk
T
he Transport Select
Committee has
blasted the
government’s current
short-term approach
to financing road maintenance
as being “not fit for purpose”
as the country’s roads continue
to crumble.
To fix the problem, the
Committee said a front-loaded,
five-year funding settlement is
the only way local authorities will
be able to address deteriorating
local roads and plan ahead.
“Potholes are a headache for
everyone and a severe risk for
many,” the report said, adding
that a poor-quality local road
network undermines local
economic performance and
results in direct costs to
taxpayers either through rising
costs of deferred work, or
through a make-do-and-mend
approach that does not
represent good value for money
in the long term.
The FTA was quick to agree
with the report. “The road
network has been subject to
chronic underinvestment for
many years,” said FTA’s head of
UK policy, Christopher Snelling.
“Taxes on UK road transport are
the highest in Europe, yet our
roads continue to be
underfunded. HGVs alone pay
enough tax to pay for more than
90 per cent of the current
amount spent on road
maintenance in the UK.
“Large potholes are an all too
common sight – costing
businesses in the logistics
industry millions of pounds a
year in vehicle repair and hireMPs call for ring-fenced funds
to tackle pothole blight
NEWS IN BRIEF
Hero driver goes viral
Dash cam footage of a truck driver
who helped an elderly lady across the
road has gone viral after we covered it
in last month’s Trucking. The
previously unidentified driver has been
revealed as Malino Wilson, who works
for Explore Transport on a contract
with Cemex. Wilson was returning to
his depot in Oldbury when he spotted
the woman attempting to cross the
road with her shopping.
Rather than drive past, he decided
to lend a hand. He pulled his truck
over, temporarily stopping traffic
while he got out and helped the lady
across the road. However, it was only
much later Wilson realised his good
deed had not gone unnoticed, after a
driver waiting behind his truck filmed
the scene and posted it on social
media – which is where Trucking
picked it up.Since it was posted, the
story has been shared more than
31,000 times.
Mr Wilson knows the area and
said: “It is a dangerous place to cross
and I could see the lady was
struggling to push her shopping bag
down the curb, so I went out to help
her. My parents brought me up to
respect the elderly and vulnerable
people, and I just knew it was the
right thing to do.”
John Whitehurst, head of Mixer
Division at Explore Transport, added:
“We are thrilled to see one of our
drivers act in such a caring way.
Malino is a lovely bloke and deserves
all the positive responses he is
getting. He is a credit to us at Explore
and to the truck driving profession.”
WIlson’s own dash cam footage
can be viewed online at
http://bit.ly/DriverHelpingHandD
rivers are being reminded
that if they are involved in a
crash on UK roads, they
must follow a series of strict legal
requirements to ensure incidents
can be accurately reported and
dealt with.
Once the safety of all road
users has been secured and the
emergency services have been
called for if needed, the law is
clear on what drivers involved in a
crash must do next.
If damage or injury is caused
to another person, vehicle, animal
or any property, section 170 of
the Road Traffic Act 1988 makes it
the obligation of any driver to
stop, report an accident andprovide any necessary information
or documents.
The name and address of both
the driver and the registered vehicle
owner must be given to anyone
who might need to know, such as
others involved in the incident and
police or ambulance crews.
These details must be
exchanged immediately, at the time
of the collision, or handed to the
police as soon as possible but
within a maximum of 24 hours.
Drivers involved in a crash should
also ensure any relevant parties
have noted down the correct
registration number of their vehicle.
If another road user is injured as
a result of a collision drivers areinvolved in, a valid insurance
certificate must be produced
immediately too. This should be
shown to an attending police officer
or anyone who has reasonable
grounds to require it.
If a driver is not in possession of
their insurance documents at the
time of a collision
which causes injury,
the incident must be
reported to the police
as soon as possible
and within 24 hours.
Motorists have up
to a maximum of
seven days from a
significant crash
occurring to send theirinsurance certificate to the police.
It’s also advisable to make any
notes about the causes, timeline
and consequences of a collision as
soon as possible after the incident.
Taking photographs is also
recommended if you have a suitable
device and it’s safe to do so.majority thought UK roads have
become much worse in recent
years, that there are many more
potholes than ever before, and
that they have to swerve to avoid
potholes on every journey.
Some 47 per cent (over 3400
respondents) said they have
experienced damage to their
commercial vehicle, car,
motorbike or bicycle or
personal injury as a result of
hitting a pothole.
“While we understand local
government funding has been
cut, the effect of pothole
damage to beleaguered British
motorists is huge,” said IAM
RoadSmart spokesman,
Rodney Kumar. “It costs them a
fortune, stops them getting to
work and has a detrimental
effect on the economy.
“It really is time to ring-fence
funds for tackling this pothole
epidemic and get the problem
sorted once and for all,”
Kumar concluded.replacement. Potholes are
dangerous to cyclists as well as
damaging to vehicles; it is
ridiculous that we still have this
problem in today’s Britain.”
But FTA said this funding
would not offer a complete
solution, as estimates showed it
would cost £9.79 billion and take
10 years for highways
departments in England and
Wales to catch up on the road
repairs needed.
“This investment must be
viewed as part of a more
comprehensive, long-term road
improvement strategy,”
Snelling warned.
Road safety charity IAM
RoadSmart also backed calls for
a long-term plan to tackle the
“national scandal” of potholes,
claiming nearly half of the people
it surveyed had experienced
pothole damage to their vehicles.
A previous online survey of
more than 7000 IAM RoadSmart
members showed a clearTSC said ‘make-do-and-
mend’ approach to pothole
problem isn’t workingAre you clear on what the law
requires you to do after an accident?DRIVERS URGED TO BONE-UP ON POST-CRASH PROTOCOL