Letters

Please send your letters to Ruth Taylor at the.reporter@leeds.ac.uk or send them by post to: The Reporter, Employee communications team, Room 12.72, E C Stoner Building.

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DISCOURTEOUS DRIVERS
Could not staff members who drive illegally and/or in unroadworthy cars on campus be stripped of their parking permits?

Over the last year or so I’ve seen many instances of dangerous driving, ranging from minor incidents which increase the general stress level to serious ones which could easily have caused a major accident.

Examples I’ve seen recently include a large silver Mercedes which turned right out of the car park under the EC Stoner building without indicating, causing two pedestrians to have to run for their lives; several cars driving with defective dipped beam headlights, tail lights and/or brake lights; driving around campus with front fog lights on a clear night; and drivers keeping their footbrakes applied while stopped in a queue at night, thereby dazzling and impairing the visibility of the driver behind with their brake lights.

I’ve also noticed vehicles in the car parks with tyres that are clearly worn well below the legal limit. Furthermore, a depressing proportion of those parking on campus seem to believe that the law against using a mobile phone while driving does not apply to them.

While I accept that little can be done about members of the public who have paid their £5, surely natural justice dictates that of the University’s staff and students, those who can be bothered to drive their car legally and maintain it in a roadworthy condition should get priority for parking on campus.

The campus CCTV system should be able to easily detect vehicles being driven with defective exterior lights, not signalling in accordance with the Highway Code, aggressive tailgating, and several other offences.

These tapes should be regularly reviewed and any staff permit holder found to have broken the law should have his or her permit revoked, permanently. It should also not be much hassle for security staff to carry a tyre tread depth gauge around with them and check out any vehicle with tyres that look suspiciously worn.

Kicking these moron drivers off the campus would do a lot to make it a safer and less stressful place for pedestrians, cyclists and responsible drivers, and I hope the University will consider my suggestion.

Dr Leo Enticknap
Institute of Communications Studies

Reply: The University campus is private property to which access is controlled by Security Services. The conditions in place for operating motor vehicles on site are laid down in the workplace transport safety policy, and in the terms for the issue of a University parking permit. This requires drivers to operate their vehicles in a safe manner whilst on campus, which includes issues such as worn tyres and malfunctioning lights.

Individuals who fail to comply with the requirement to operate vehicles safely are liable to find their vehicles banned from campus. In the case of permit holders this can also include the withdrawal of parking privileges.

It is a routine occurrence for security officers to take drivers to task for the use of excessive speed or other traffic offences on campus that impact on safety. In the vast majority of cases drivers are quick to accept criticisms of security staff and this usually ends up with them being issued with a warning as to their future conduct. In only two cases in the last six years has the threat been necessary to ban individuals from campus.

Although the number of reported safety concerns regarding the operation of vehicles on campus is very small, the potential impact of an accident is very serious. A need exists to address as many concerns as possible to minimise the risks to everyone. Every nearmiss involving the threat of injury should be reported under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

The University will continue to do all that it can to make the campus a safer place to study and work.

Malcolm Dawson, operations manager
Security and Support Services