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00:29I'll see you next time.
00:33Hello there, and welcome to this, our first edition of Top Gear.
00:36Now, if you happen to be a road user, let's face it, who isn't these days,
00:40then I do hope you're going to find something of special interest to you in this new series.
00:44Now, tonight we're going to be taking a look at the way the police can trap the speeding motorist.
00:48We'll be following the progress of our own car on an economy run around Britain,
00:52and I'll be putting some questions to the Minister of Transport, William Rogers.
00:56But first, let's meet the girl in the news, Angela Ripper.
01:30We're now about halfway through April, and I've already got just under 12,000 miles on the clock,
01:35so I'll give you some idea of the sort of mileage that I do.
01:38And like most professional journalists, I think of myself as a semi-professional driver,
01:43because we do spend an awful lot of our working day in the car.
01:47In my case, when I drive up and down from my home in Devon to the studio in London,
01:51I'm in the car for about four hours before I start my day's work.
01:55And even as a junior reporter on newspapers, and when I first started working for the BBC as a reporter,
02:01I could spend two or three hours of the day in a car before I got to a story and
02:06had to do a day's work,
02:07and then another two hours driving back to the studio or back to the newspaper.
02:11Of course, being a woman driver, I'm very much aware of the fact that lady drivers,
02:16all lady drivers are the subject of musical jokes, have been for years.
02:20But, you know, really, if you think about it, there aren't men drivers and women drivers.
02:25There are people who drive cars.
02:26Some of those people are very good drivers.
02:28Some of them are very, very bad.
02:30And some of the bad drivers are men as well as women.
02:33I know that women do actually do silly things.
02:36I've seen them myself.
02:37They do what I'm doing now, in fact.
02:39They sit in a car and they natter to one another like this.
02:41And I can do that because I know that there's nothing behind me at the moment.
02:44Women also perhaps sit in their car wondering what they're going to give the family for dinner that evening.
02:48And so you're quite obviously aware of them not concentrating fully on what they're doing on the roads,
02:53which is silly and it can be dangerous.
02:55But I've never actually seen a woman driver do anything overtly dangerous.
03:00I've never seen a woman, for instance, cut another driver off purposely to stop them getting in front of her.
03:06I've never seen them lane dodging.
03:08I've never seen them using their cars on motorways like dodgems.
03:12So there are a lot of bad drivers.
03:14Some of them are women, but an awful lot of them are men.
03:26You've just had lunch with your two children.
03:29Can you give me some idea of how much that's cost you?
03:33See, it was £3.49.
03:36Two of us had sausages.
03:37We had a junior portion, which was nearly as big as mine.
03:41And she had a pie and chips and peas.
03:44It seemed very adequate.
03:45But that's cost you, what, £4?
03:47Do you think that's good value?
03:49Yes, I do, really.
03:50You think nothing of spending £4, then?
03:52Well, we have to eat.
03:54And for convenience eating, this is very good.
03:58If you go out to a restaurant, you'll pay more than that.
04:04I come from Holland, from the south of Holland.
04:07Now, the meal that you've had has cost you in this restaurant just over £2.
04:11How does that compare with what you would be prepared to pay in Holland?
04:15Well, I think about twice as much in Holland.
04:18So what do you think about the value you've got?
04:21It's very good value, I think, yes.
04:23Definitely.
04:23The value is, of course, very good here.
04:26But that is, of course, always the case, being from the continent, or at least from Holland
04:32to Germany, with the pound so low.
04:36But in general, it is good value here in England, really.
04:42I think they're very expensive compared to, you know, ordinary cafes and towns.
04:46But I think one's just got accustomed to this now.
04:49It's what one puts up with it.
04:53Bacon chips and a cup of coffee, a pound.
04:56That's not exactly cheap, is it?
04:57No.
04:59Unfortunately, running a 24-hour service, 365 days a year, costs a great deal of money.
05:05We have enormous overheads.
05:07Apart from the price of food itself, we have to bring all our staff to work.
05:11There's no public transport to get to work with, so we have a coach bill of something
05:17like £40,000 a year.
05:19We have astronomical electricity charges.
05:22And it's the basic problem of running a 24-hour a day, 365 days a year service.
05:28It's very, very expensive.
05:30And I can assure you, our profit margins are very small.
05:32What about your petrol?
05:33I've just looked downstairs.
05:34You have four-star petrol on sale here for 91p.
05:37In Birmingham, you can buy the same petrol for 83p.
05:40Yes, unfortunately, I shouldn't think that the garage in Birmingham is open 24 hours a day.
05:48He's probably getting a discount from his supplier, and he certainly hasn't got to light a forecourt
05:53365 days a year and all night, which is a very expensive business, very expensive.
05:58And we just cannot afford, unfortunately, to cut the prices.
06:02We'd love to.
06:02We'd love to cut prices, because that would give us even more trade.
06:12I'm a great believer in driving on mirrors.
06:15I've got three mirrors in this car, because I think, especially on motorways, you need
06:19to be as aware of what's happening behind you as what's going on in the three lanes in front.
06:24So I've got a mirror over there on the left-hand wing, which tells me everything that's happening
06:27in the left-hand lane.
06:29The central mirror, the reversing mirror, which can show me a very clear picture of what's
06:34happening behind me.
06:35And again, a mirror here on the right-hand wing, which means that I really do have 365 degrees
06:41vision of everything that's happening all around me on the motorway.
06:45I think an awful lot of people don't use their mirrors enough.
06:48They don't bother to look in them, to see what's happening behind.
06:51They pull out without realizing that someone's coming up very fast on the outside lane.
06:55I would like to see drivers using their mirrors far more.
06:59One of the things that annoys me more than anything else is that.
07:03I don't mean just being overtaken, but I used to drive a yellow sports car.
07:08Now, a woman driving a sports car is like a red rag to a bull to most drivers, and certainly
07:13to the police who are looking for speedsters.
07:15So I always drive at a steady 70.
07:18So I can't tell you how mad it makes me when I'm sitting in my car, doing as I am
07:24now,
07:25a steady 70, and I'm overtaken in the outside lane by a dark family saloon driven by a gentleman
07:31in his trilby with his hands gripping the wheels, doing 90 down the outside lane.
07:36Just no justice in it.
07:51Angela Rippon telling us what she thinks on her journey from the television centre in London
07:55up to Pebble Mill.
07:59Just before Easter, the Minister of Transport announced some new speed regulations.
08:02You probably remember that two years ago, speed restrictions were introduced.
08:06This was part of the government's fuel-saving plan.
08:09Well, now these have been relaxed.
08:11This means that on dual carriageways, you can drive up to 70 miles an hour.
08:14On a single carriageway, it's been raised up to 60.
08:17But the maximum speeds on our motorways remain the same.
08:20That's at 70.
08:21Now, these new regulations come in force on June the 1st.
08:24But have you ever wondered how the police operate their speed recording devices?
08:28Well, we invited the sports motorist, St. John Howe, to take a spin in Birmingham.
08:42The
08:43Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
08:47We're all going to see it.
08:49We're going to see it, we're going to see.
08:54We're going to see.
09:01I'm pulling them off now.
09:29Good morning, driver.
09:30I've just checked your speed by the use of Vascar
09:33over a distance along Purrshaw Road
09:35and found your average speed to be 55.7 miles per hour.
09:39This is in excess of the permitted 30 miles per hour for the road.
09:42Now, you're not obliged to say anything unless you wish to do so,
09:45but anything you do say, I shall take down in writing
09:46and may be given in evidence.
09:48I certainly wasn't doing more than 40.
09:53Oh, well, there we are. You can't win them all, can you?
09:56I've just been nobbled by Vascar,
09:59a £700 box of tricks which is now in use
10:01by most police forces in this country.
10:04It's really a small computer which calculates the time it takes
10:08for a driver to cover a certain distance,
10:10then gives a digital printout of his average speed over that distance.
10:15What's more, the display remains in the police car
10:18so that the driver who's been booked can get out and look at it for himself.
10:22And it can be used in more than one way.
10:25The police car doesn't have to follow you.
10:27There's the pre-fed distance method.
10:29We drive the police vehicle across a fixed distance.
10:33We pick two clear points in the road.
10:36As the police vehicle drives across the first point,
10:38we switch the distance switch on.
10:48As we pass the second point,
10:51we turn this distance switch off.
10:56We then park at the side of the road,
10:59making sure that we can see these two points clearly.
11:04As the target vehicle approaches these points,
11:07we switch the time switch on
11:10as he passes our first reference point,
11:13and we switch the time switch off
11:15as he passes the second reference point.
11:17The computer will give us the vehicle's average speed
11:20displayed on the unit.
11:22And shortly after that,
11:24you look in your mirror,
11:24and, well, you have the rest.
11:26Ah, you say, but all this is fallible.
11:28It depends on the policeman flicking a switch
11:30exactly when I drive over that crossing.
11:32Well, it does,
11:33but the men who operate VASCAR take a three-week course
11:36and must be 0.75 of a mile per hour accurate
11:39over all their tests.
11:40And it does only record an average speed.
11:43I was actually doing 60 some of the time.
11:46You remember those black cars the police used to use?
11:49Well, by the time you see this one, it's too late.
11:52This is radar,
11:53and it measures your speed at the split second
11:55when you cross its beam.
11:56The machine is in the boot,
11:58and the beam scans the carriageway at a 45-degree angle.
12:02First, a police motorcyclist drives past the beam
12:04at a constant speed
12:05to check the accuracy of the radar meter inside the car.
12:09Incidentally, this test is repeated after the day's work,
12:12and then the motorcycle speedo is double-checked on a rolling road.
12:16Three policemen are needed to operate radar.
12:19This motorcyclist,
12:20a colleague to stop the speeding motorist,
12:22and the radar operator sitting in the black car.
12:26On the day we filmed,
12:2770% of the motorists travelling along this road
12:29were going too fast.
12:31Yes, we are ready now.
12:32Everything's in order.
12:38Yellow sports car at 44, please confirm.
12:42Stand by, step in, step in.
12:49Yellow sports car, it's a Triumph.
12:53Speedfire, registered number in November,
12:59Good afternoon, sir.
13:00You've just come through the radar speed check.
13:03Your speed has been recorded at 44 miles per hour.
13:07I thought it was a 40-mile-an-hour road, this one.
13:12Now, for your information, sir,
13:14it is a 30-mile-an-hour limit at response.
13:17May I see your driving licence, please?
13:21Thank you, sir.
13:23Now, as regards the speed,
13:24the facts will be reported
13:26for the consideration of the question
13:27of prosecuting you for exceeding the speeding.
13:30I think for 10 miles an hour,
13:31it's rather splitting hairs, don't you?
13:33Yes, thank you.
13:34I will note that, thank you.
13:42Recently, the Derbyshire police
13:44have been testing a new device,
13:45which it's claimed overcomes the problem
13:47of relying on the fast reflexes of trained policemen,
13:50as in the Vascar system,
13:51and which is more portable than radar.
13:54In the Truvello system,
13:56a cable is stretched across the road,
13:58attached to a couple of nails
13:59driven into the surface.
14:01When the front wheel of a vehicle runs over it,
14:03compressing the inner insulator,
14:05an electrical impulse is generated,
14:07and the information is sent
14:09to the electronic instrument.
14:10A second detector cable
14:12is stretched across the road
14:13at an exact distance of 1.55 metres,
14:16so that when this cable is compressed,
14:18a second signal is sent
14:20to the electronic brain.
14:22The time taken for the front wheels to pass
14:25from the first cable to the second
14:27gives an immediate readout
14:28of the speed of that vehicle.
14:30So, from a suitcase powered by torch batteries
14:33comes a new sophisticated speed trap,
14:36which one day may be in use in your area.
14:59If you drive a Dolomite 1850,
15:01can you get 42 miles to the gallon
15:03or 45 miles per gallon
15:05from a Chrysler Alpine,
15:06a Ford Fiesta 49 MPG
15:09or a Reliant Kitten
15:10over 57 miles per gallon?
15:13Well, those are the figures recorded
15:14by drivers in the Total Economy Drive.
15:17We wanted to find out for ourselves,
15:19so Top Gear decided to take the obvious step
15:22and enter our own car.
15:24Top Gear's driver was Mike Woodhead,
15:26a Radio Birmingham producer
15:28whose motoring interests have included
15:29racing his own cars on the racetrack.
15:31His co-driver, John Burkill,
15:34is a television engineer here at Pebble Mill.
15:37Every car carries a third passenger,
15:39an observer.
15:40That's right, yeah.
15:41We're completely separate from the event,
15:44an independent body in actual fact,
15:47and it's our job to see that the driver
15:50doesn't freewheel,
15:52doesn't switch off the engine and coast,
15:55and just generally maintains
15:56the regulations of the event.
15:59The cars are flagged away at two-minute intervals.
16:02Well, more or less.
16:15Ahead of them now, 850 miles
16:17at an average speed of 30 miles an hour
16:19over all types of roads except motorways,
16:22where they must maintain 50 miles an hour average.
16:25There's a penalty of a half mile per gallon
16:28for every minute of lateness at a time control,
16:30so the first refuelling stop at Wrexham
16:33is a time for the co-drivers
16:35to check their arithmetic.
16:42One more, please.
16:44That should give us eight and a half gallons.
16:50The driving technique is to use the accelerator pedal sparingly
16:54and change gears seldom as possible.
16:56It calls for total concentration every yard of the way
16:59to keep up the average speed
17:01through the rally country of Wales
17:03whilst watching the fuel consumption.
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17:56The thirstiest car was his four-and-a-half-litre, two-ton Daimler, which nevertheless recorded
18:01over 19 miles per gallon. And so dusk on the first day finds competitors reflecting on
18:07the first 300 miles.
18:10Well, I suppose the little bits of whales are most interesting, really. Well, it's all
18:14interesting because it all counts, you know, even the sort of dreary going along the road
18:18and saying, well, is it going to get up this little bit without opening the throttle any
18:21more, finding you've perhaps made a very slight error. You know, you're calculating all the
18:26time now, would it have been better if I'd done such and such at the bottom? So it's
18:30interesting all the time, really. Because from a driver's point of view, the twiddly bits
18:34are the most interesting.
18:36I've discovered, actually, that one should really unscrew the brake pedal and throw it
18:40away, because you don't need it. This is true, that's true. You go up the hill as
18:46slow as you dare, so you're not using the brake, and you come down the other side as fast as
18:51you bloody can, and without using the brake at all. And if you get down to the bottom in
18:57one piece, well, you can pat yourself on the back and say you've done a good job.
19:02After a few hours' rest at Coventry, the cars head north, and it leads straight into the teeth
19:07of a blizzard. By the time they reach the North York Moors, the countryside looks more
19:13like a scene from a Christmas car. Now, as the temperature drops below zero, the drivers
19:23must redouble their efforts of concentration. The moorland roads have become treacherous,
19:28and high crosswinds add to their problems. The first day was like learning all over again,
19:49and I feel much fitter than I did at the end of yesterday. At the end of yesterday I was
19:55so tired. I was falling asleep on the way back. And then this morning I felt terrible
20:00at breakfast and felt even worse. But now it's not bad. And in fact, we've got more petrol
20:05in the tank, we think, than when we first started, than we should have at this stage. So we're
20:10pleasantly surprised. Thank you very much. Have a good drive.
20:23The second night, heading south from Teesside, up and down the narrow tracks of the Pennines.
20:28And all the signs are, it's now becoming rather competitive. I don't want my bloody phone to take it!
20:58850 arduous miles completed for Top Gear's entry, as Mike Woodhead crosses the finishing line back at Coventry.
21:04Thank you, Mr. Angel, I'm Mr. Block at the top. Thank you, sir.
21:08All the cars are subjected again to a rigid scrutiny, and the fuel remaining
21:12is pumped out before the final calculations can be made. But something's happened to Top Gear's car.
21:18We were supposed to take a right-hand corner, and it was a little sharper than we thought it was.
21:23And I went into it with a little more confidence than perhaps I should have done.
21:27And we just sailed straight on into a bank. Straight up, actually. Just like that.
21:32And as you can see, the near side all crunched in, and we backed off. I said a few words,
21:38I must admit.
21:39Because we were only about an hour from the finish, and carried on. I enjoyed it. I could do another
21:45one there, easily.
21:47A few hours later, the successful crews receive their awards for achieving fuel consumption figures,
21:52which, to the ordinary motorist, must appear little short of miraculous.
21:56But for Mike Woodhead's first attempt, miracles take a little longer.
22:01Well, Mike Woodhead, how realistic is that kind of driving to everyday motoring?
22:06Well, in the main it is. You have to have the same kind of talents to do well in that
22:09competition,
22:10as you would to drive economically on the road.
22:12Although I have to be honest in saying that you wouldn't drive in the manner that we drove.
22:15I mean, you wouldn't keep the car in top when it was crying out to be put into third.
22:20You wouldn't come down hills as if the angels of death were after you.
22:23Nor would you go across roundabouts playing chicken.
22:27To drive economically in that competition, and to do so on the road, you have to drive smoothly.
22:32And that, in the main, is what you have to do.
22:34Don't treat the accelerator like a foot pump. Use the brake gently.
22:39And change gear, but don't change gear unnecessarily.
22:43Drive smoothly, slowly. Anticipate moves that other people are going to make.
22:46Some of the things you do in a competition, of course, like staying in top gear, would be dangerous on
22:50the road.
22:51They would be, and they would be dangerous to the car. You'd have nothing left in the car.
22:55Thank you very much.
22:57One man I'm sure many motorists would like to put a question to is the Secretary of State for Transport,
23:01still better known as the Minister of Transport, Mr. William Rogers.
23:07Mr. Rogers, are you, in fact, this session of Parliament introducing any new legislation or regulations?
23:12Well, this session of Parliament ends at the end of July or thereabouts,
23:16and I have no plans or I've been allowed no time to do this.
23:20Of course, the important thing now is to discuss with my colleagues and persuade them to let me have some
23:26time, I hope,
23:27for the session which will begin in the autumn.
23:29But I think no new legislation, non-introduced by me, within the next month or so.
23:35Well, if you get that time in the next session, what, in fact, would you be promoting?
23:39I think that my concern at the moment, quite a part of my white paper, I should say that,
23:43because I'm hoping that will be published at the end of May and will cause a great deal of interest,
23:48but it deals not only mainly with problems of the motorists, but with all the transport problems as well,
23:52and will not be immediately legislation.
23:55But I mention that because that's really my principal preoccupation now,
23:59and what Parliament and the public will see mainly of me between now and the end of July.
24:05But as far as next year is concerned, of course, I'm still very concerned, indeed, if I possibly can,
24:10to get the seatbelts bill, because nothing would do more to save lives.
24:14And so that is a priority in my mind, though I have to convince not only my colleagues,
24:20but convince Parliament itself, which will decide.
24:22I'm concerned also with drunken driving and the need to legislate on the basis of the Blenner-Hassett report.
24:29Again, something I think people feel very strongly about.
24:31In some ways, I think they feel more strongly about that than seatbelts.
24:35There will be fewer lives at stake, but all lives are vitally important.
24:40And I think that, I hope that Parliament will take the view that's an issue upon which we should legislate.
24:45And then I'm concerned also, though, exactly what form legislation might take
24:50with the rise in accidents due to people riding motorbikes and, as you know, the great growth in use of
24:56motorcycles.
24:57I can't say now what form that will take, but if I put those three together,
25:01seatbelts and drinking and driving and two-wheeled vehicles,
25:05well, they are the priorities I would have strictly in the road safety field
25:09and strictly, perhaps, affecting the motorists more than some other issues.
25:12You talked about the drunken driving and about the Blenner-Hassett report.
25:17What, in fact, are the new regulations you will be promoting in this direction?
25:20I can't say until I get the bill drafted and the bill approved by my colleagues.
25:25It's simply, as, again, I think people know, a whole new generation has grown up since the bill of ten
25:30years ago.
25:31And despite our present advertising campaign, which I think is very well done,
25:37despite that, nevertheless, the results are not good enough.
25:40And we've got to look at the new generation and we've got to look at loopholes which Parliament never intended
25:45to exist.
25:47Nobody's trying to penalise, certainly, nobody's trying to penalise the reasonable motorists in any way at all,
25:52or do anything which is an unreasonable infringement of liberty.
25:55But as far as people, as long as people are killed, this is a different matter.
25:59As long as a man who drinks too much and drives and kills somebody else, somebody else's child,
26:05well, then Parliament must certainly do something about it.
26:07Well, we've had another budget and, again, the motorists having to subsidise the rest of the community.
26:11How do you yourself feel about that?
26:13Well, I think that's a very prejudiced use of words.
26:16And what amuses me...
26:17It's what a lot of people think, Minister. I think you agree.
26:19Well, they may think it, but we've got to think a bit more clearly than sometimes we do.
26:22But there is a lot of nonsense talk, frankly, about the motorists.
26:26He's not a persecuted minority, nor is he a privileged minority,
26:31because we do all, more of us today, own cars than ever before,
26:34and the majority of people have access to a car on a regular basis.
26:37So it's not a privileged or penalised minority we're talking about.
26:41And we also travel by public transport and we also consume all the other services.
26:46So let's not have this nonsense about the motorist being a peculiar and special animal.
26:50He's you and he's me and he's a lot of other people who travel in other ways as well.
26:55And our taxation system is designed to raise the revenue to pay for services we consume,
27:01the ones we want, our pensions, our national health service, our educational system.
27:06Now, these are all relevant considerations when you consider how much the Chancellor chooses to raise in petrol tax,
27:12as, of course, are the energy-saving aspects of that.
27:15Minister, you've disappointed me there. I thought you'd be our champion, you know,
27:18looking after the motorists and protecting them from these things, like rising transportation costs.
27:21Ah, well, this is a game where you're mistaken.
27:23It's not my job to be the champion of the motorists.
27:25It's my job to be, in your words, the champion of all those who use transport,
27:30whether it's public transport, private transport, freight or passenger,
27:33and have a sense of perspective. That's my job.
27:36Now, you may think I'm wrong in my sense of perspective.
27:38You mustn't ask me to be a single-minded devotee of any one section of the public.
27:43And certainly I'm not prepared to talk about persecuted motorists.
27:46I'm a motorist. I've been one for 25 years.
27:48I tend to be the slightest bit persecuted,
27:50although I get fed up from time to time with governments.
27:53We all do. And with other motorists and with local authorities and with everybody.
27:57But let's not confuse irritation and bad temper
28:00and a feeling of resentment or grievance from time to time
28:03with a sense of perspective about what governments ought to be doing
28:07and the interest of everybody in an efficient transport system.
28:11And that's where we end this first edition of Top Gear.
28:14Just before I go, there's time to remind you that this, of course,
28:17is a programme for road users, which means everyone who's got a bicycle,
28:21a juggernaut, a family saloon, a pair of roller skates, a motorcycle,
28:25and, of course, for pedestrians as well, because, after all,
28:28we're all road users at some time or another.
28:30So if there's something you'd like to get off your chest,
28:33and let's face it, I had my go at the beginning of the programme,
28:35if you've got a cost-saving idea that you think the rest of us might like to know about,
28:39in fact, anything you've got to say about being a road user,
28:43we'd like to hear from you, and we'll be giving you the address in just a few seconds.
28:46But right now, that's it for this week.
28:49In four weeks' time, Tom and I will be getting back into Top Gear,
28:52and I do hope that you'll be around to join us.
28:54So until then, goodnight.
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