Making motorways safe and secure

It is now two weeks since the tragic accidents on the M5 and M56 which cost the lives of eight people and injured many more. Three of those that died were lorry drivers.

The accidents have called into question government proposals to raise the speed limit from 70mph to 80mph, but there are also serious concerns about the haulage industry overall.

Unite represents thousands of drivers and transport workers in the haulage industry.They worry that a culture of long hours and unreasonable routing may have contributed to these accidents. Drivers at the depot of the victims of the M5 crash had raised their concerns with management that a culture of long hours and unreasonable routing could have contributed to the M5 crash. Drivers at the depot also question the 15 hour days and pressure to complete heavy scheduling, something they wanted to raise on the very day of the tragedy.

While we rightly should have to wait for a full and proper investigation into the causes of these accidents, the industry must recognise the cumulative effect of drivers working tough schedules and 15 hour days. What is more the hours drivers are having to work are continually rising at a time when their terms and conditions are being reduced.

Over the last decade the road haulage industry has seen wholesale change as an ‘I want it now’ consumer culture has created a demand for ‘just-in-time’ delivery which sees drivers on the road 24/7 ferrying everything from fuel to food all around the country. A decade ago the industry provided decent jobs for working class people, with pensions, salaries and direct employment. Now, despite their additional workloads and pressures, drivers are effectively treated like commodities shifted from pillar to post as contracts change hands and new employers make ever stricter demands. A culture of faster, sooner, quicker means professional drivers are not only having to work long hours, but they don’t even get to enjoy decent facilities to do their jobs safely and with dignity.

Drivers are expected to grab what sleep they can in their cabs after a long shift, often by noisy roadsides due to the lack of basic amenities – such as washing facilities or a decent place to get some well needed rest – that the rest of us take for granted . As the rampant pursuit of profit had taken hold, these decent jobs have become insecure, unstable and as last week’s tragedy shows, can be deadly.

Labour leader Ed Miliband has been pushing his agenda about the threat of ‘predatory’ capitalism and arguing for a change to the way Britain does business. The changes in the road haulage industry are a prime example of what happens when all the power is in the hands of the employers (or, as is most usually the case in this industry, the big corporate clients who call the shots).

That’s why Labour, and anyone wanting to change the way Britain does business, should back Unite’s efforts to stop this vital sector of the economy becoming another victim of undercutting and casualisation. Next year we will push again for ministers to act to ensure lorry driver accidents and deaths are counted in the workplace statistics, and not as they are now as road traffic deaths with the presumption of “blame” on the driver’s part. We would hope MPs of all parties back this because it is about time that the quiet crisis on our roads was exposed – and tackled.

Unite is fighting to stop this sector unravelling under relentless employer pressure. At the same time we want public safety to be taken seriously. Our truckstop campaign is there to demand dignity on the road, to demand facilities for drivers and to ensure that the health of safety of drivers and the roads is respected.

Not only will this help to make sure that the drivers can work in dignity, but that everyone on the roads is safe and secure.

Matt Draper is the Unite national officer for road transport