Good news about UK transport is rare – so a fall in road deaths to below 3,000 for the first time since records began is definitely worth noting. Go here for a BBC summary, of the latest figures or here for the full-Monty DfT version. But, TC and a few others note that the latest stats also reveal that speeding is a causal factor in only 3% of accidents. This is equally good news for most of us. Go here for a Massey of the Mail report. A third year of ’cause’ stats to accompany traffic injury figures builds an increasingly clear and reliable source of facts to help balance road safety policy emphasis between speed limit enforcement and tackling the bad but non-speeding behaviour that causes most road fatalities in practice. The hard news on speed as a factor is however less good for some campaign groups, administrators, and safety/speed camera manufacturers who see speed reduction or limit enforcement as the best way to improve road safety. The facts as revealed by the latest stats place government on the horns of a thorny dilemma. The best way to counteract careless and bad driving on roads is by deploying patrols of experienced traffic police. But, in a nut shell, that is a cost for government to face and speed cameras offer a source of revenue… Road safety also has a social dimension. Links between higher death rates and deprivation are a focus of concern for this Guardian article.
26th September 2008
by Leon Mannings
Nearly half of the traffic wardens in a big London Borough left their jobs on hearing that immigration checks would be conducted the following day.
The wardens, aka ‘civil enforcement officers’ or ‘parking attendants’, had worked for APCOA until August when the lucrative parking enforcement contract in Lambeth was awarded to NCP Services Ltd. But 48 of the 100 enforcement officers either resigned or didn’t turn up for work after the new management announced it would be re-checking immigration papers of the 150 staff who transferred to the new contractor. “We do not know whether all of them did not have the right to work because they resigned of their own accord”, said the NCP manager for Lambeth, Tim Cowan. Go here for a BBC TV broadcast on the story.
In theory, UK government cares about this sort of thing – and employers should because they can be fined £10,000 for breaking laws on hiring people without valid visas or passports. But is this just an extraordinary isolated incident?
How come we have reached a stage in a ‘World City’ where half of the people dishing out fines to enforce a local authority’s parking regulations do not seem to be legally entitled to work at all? Does government at central and local level really care who is enforcing the limits of the parking restrictions they impose?
A Lambeth spokesman tells TC.com that “we absolutely support NCP Services in their efforts to ensure staff employed in Lambeth have the right to work in this country”. But, what is less clear is how the situation arose in the first place. Perhaps, in practice, the people who should care who is employed to impose Penalty Charge Notices (PCN) on behalf of UK local authorities don’t as much as they should, or they do care but have allowed the drive for profit to cloud their judgement…
25th September 2008
by Leon Mannings
Lorry and van operators pay over £600 million in fines per year to deliver vital services and move goods in London. Five firms – including BT’s telephone maintenance company and DHL are fined more than £1 million a year each for alleged parking violations in the capital.
The huge total of UK parking fines are revealed by an in-depth study of delivery ‘hotspots’ that was part funded by Transport for London (TfL) and the Freight Transport Association (FTA). The total annual bill for companies such as John Lewis, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s Online is about £500 million a year – but firms spend another £100 million processing and appealing against fines. TC is however not alone in thinking that although in theory these fines are issued to punish errant parkers and change their ways to improve traffic management – in practice these huge costs do nothing of the sort and are simply passed on down to consumers.
“We are talking about half a billion pounds of extra taxes on all of us when we pay for food, drink or clothing,” says FTA Head of Policy, Gordon Telling. He adds that “around half of it is unnecessary as the fines are unfair” as the FTA say that parking wardens often ignore the fact that drivers are loading or unloading – which exempts them from tickets – and claim that wardens follow vehicles in order to ticket them when they stop.
One leading courier firm spent £685,000 in a year on clerks to deal with parking penalties. Another moved administration of fines to India to manage costs.
The transport director of London Councils, Nick Lester, defended the actions of its members and said that local authorities were willing to talk to the Freight Transport Association. But also says: “They are not being picked on, but by the nature of their work lorries are often on yellow lines. Even when they are legitimately loading or unloading it can be very difficult to tell if that is the case or not.”
25th September 2008
by Leon Mannings
Or, as TC wonders, is it to save her Bolton seat in the face of public anger about a Congestion Charging plan for Manchester – and support for rejection that is far more extensive across the region than mainstream news reports? The ludicrously timed announcement that T-Minister Ruth Kelly quits cabinet post – like at 3 a.m. before Prime Minister Brown tries rallying beleaguered Labour – has sparked speculation about why she dunnit. Top theories include a rekindling of old fire with Brown stalker Miliband, – and her ultra Catholic faith based ‘difficulty’ with supporting UK government’s Human fertilisation Bill. See Indie article here and the Guardian who report that “Brown will be toast by Christmas”! But TC wonders if secretly, in practice, the big driver for Kelly is seeing that key Labour politicians like former transport Baron Roger Jones – get the boot for supporting a £3 billion scheme to impose the biggest C-Charge zone in the world across Manchester. See how Jones was ousted and LTT report of his bitter whinging at ‘more’ below. Crucially for Kelly if the much hated charging scheme goes ahead her Bolton constituents will have a new road pricing tax to pay if they drive through the glittering array of cordons and charging points proposed for the 80 square mile zone of roads that the public have already paid for… Read More »
25th September 2008
by Leon Mannings
National transport by water and air are the primary alternatives to road and rail modes. Air transport is by aeroplane or helicopter flights, with passenger ferries and freight shipping by sea, or barges on river or canal waterways. But although there has been a great deal of excitement in the UK about reducing air travel, the proportion of domestic passenger miles by aeroplane or helicopter is actually only 1.2% of the annual total travelled. In practice more domestic freight is transported by air in Britain but this is still only 3.6% of the total in contrast to 8.5% by water – according to the latest DfT survey into the potential for increasing freight transport by water. This survey showed that 70% of respondent organisations had a “positive attitude towards water-freight transport as an environmentally-sustainable alternative to road”. In theory, 59% would choose water when considering the environment while 5% of respondents already use water as a transport mode because of environmental concerns.
The movement of containers, recyclable materials, waste and aggregates is hoped to be the main areas in which water may provide and alternative to roads. However, the biggest barrier for freight companies is “the speed of delivery” achievable by water and its effect on just-in-time practices.
This year’s figures show there were 42,413 thousand UK passenger trips (domestic) by all water modes according to the DfT’s maritime statistics. However, in practice, this pails in significance when compared to 4,972 million trips by bus or tram, 1,164 million by national rail, 1,040 million by London underground and 3 million by tramtram – as the latest DfT modal comparisons show. And in practice, 92% of all UK passenger trips are by road of which 86% are in private motor vehicles…
Permalink
|
Posted in Modes, Water & Air
|
Labels: aeroplane, Air, air travel, barge, canal, ferries, flight, freight, helicopter, river, shipping, water, waterway
23rd September 2008
by Leon Mannings
