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Government announces longer lorries trial despite safety warnings11th October 2011 The Government has announced trials of 18.55m (60ft) lorries on UK roads today, despite warnings from campaign groups that they will lead to more deaths and lose smaller hauliers up to £1.8 billion Freight on Rail, which commissioned the independent report Review of Government Proposals for Longer Semi Trailers, is warning that contrary to Government claims, longer lorries could increase collisions by between 4 and 8 per cent and lead to six extra road deaths per year. Philippa Edmunds, Freight on Rail manager, said: “Local communities could find themselves over-run with these bigger lorries on roads not designed to handle 60ft vehicles, which will make turning very dangerous, a point not even investigated in the Government’s research. The Government is attempting to mislead the public by claiming these new lorries will be no longer than the draw-bar ones which are currently allowed on our roads, but they fail to point out that those lorries make up less than 2 per cent of the entire UK fleet. “Experience in the Netherlands and Denmark has shown that once trials of 25m long, 60 tonnes mega trucks were allowed, however small and restrictive at the start, it is difficult to reverse their introduction as trials can be expanded and extended for many years.” Freight on Rail warns that by ruling out any impact of longer lorries from most collisions, ignoring the effect of the increased tail swing and failing to take account of larger driver blind spots, the Government has seriously underestimated the danger posed by longer lorries. The campaign group also warns that the congestion and cost implications of longer lorries have not been properly examined. It points out that the Government has failed to look at the effect of trainloads of consumer freight being transferred back onto the roads and ignored evidence from previous increases in length and/or weight, which show that longer lengths don’t lead to a reduction in the number of lorries on the road, merely the same number of lorries just with lower loads.
1. Freight on Rail is a partnership between the rail trade unions, the rail freight industry and Campaign for Better Transport. It works to promote the economic, social and environmental benefits of rail freight both nationally and locally. 2. The Department for Transport (DfT) has today announced a ten year trial of 17.60 m and 18.55m (60ft) lorries. The current limit is 16.5m (54ft). 3. Review of Government proposals for longer semi trailers, an independent report from transport consultants MTRU and commissioned by Freight on Rail, concluded longer lorries could lead to six extra deaths per year, result in 4 to 8 per cent more collisions and lose small and medium sized hauliers up to £1.8 billion in depreciation costs over five years. 4. The road haulage industry is divided on the merits of longer trailers. Two thirds of Road Haulage Association members are opposed to longer trailers because of the extra cost of buying new trailers and the reduction in the value of existing vehicle fleets. Small and medium sized hauliers also fear customers will demand lower rates from them but have been muted in their concerns about longer trailers in the public domain for fear of jeopardizing relationships with their customers. Certain big logistics operators and their customers will undoubtedly be able to make use of the extra volume and will be able therefore to increase their efficiency, the bulk of freight operators and users are not big companies or big hauliers. Fleets of ten or less vehicles make up almost half the lorry fleet in UK (source: Vehicle and Operator Services Agency) and these will lose out by having to buy and run new longer vehicles for general use, mostly not utilizing the extra capacity. Statistics show that hauliers tend to buy the largest vehicle permitted and use it for large and small loads, irrespective of the impact on efficiency and consolidation (p22 chart 3 of the MTRU report). 5. The DfT sponsored research has not assessed the impact on tight junctions where the out-swing of the rear of the trailer will double to over two metres and this will occur in the driver’s increased blind spot. Such trucks will have to enter the ‘wrong’ lanes or mount the footway or traffic islands to make these everyday manoeuvres.. This will be particularly dangerous for all other road users who may get side swiped as it will not be obvious to them how the back of the lorry will swing out into another lane. 6. Local authorities Infrastructure costs not calculated in the DfT research. The Technical Advisors Group (TAG) calculates that the additional costs for footway and kerbs based on generic asset costs will be around £410 million. At present there is a cost of around £21 million per annum across English urban authorities in repair and maintenance of current damage caused by HGV’s. Additionally TAG estimated that TRO costs per CPZ could be between £10k to £100k per CPZ and the 12 inner London boroughs alone you could be looking at something over 150 CPZ’s. Taxpayers had to pick up the bill for bridge strengthening when weight limits were increased previously. 7. Longer lorries will undermine low carbon energy-efficient rail traffic, particularly the emerging supermarket trade which has the highest potential growth. The Government’s own figures state that the 2m increase would reduce consumer rail freight growth by two thirds by 2025 and is likely to result in a downward spiral for rail freight. 8. Any attempt to change the legislation so as to legalise this extra length on a permanent basis will strengthen the already heavy external lobbying for much larger mega trucks of 25 metres and 60 tonnes in weight, to which the Government has expressly stated it is opposed. 9. Campaign for Better Transport, CTC - the national cyclists’ organisation, Friends of the Earth, Living Streets, RoadPeace and Sustrans are all opposed to longer lorries http://www.freightonrail.org.uk/PDF/Final%20Joint%20response%20to%20Longer%20Trailers%20consultation.pdf |