Report bypasses the facts
Page 17
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I refer to the TRL report sponsored by the I RAC on the Okehampton bypass and your article in CM 7-13 August 1997.
I attended the launch of the report and was equally concerned at the apparent findings that the bypass had failed to stop lorry traffic through Okehampton. This is not the case as the Devon County Council's Director of the Environment confirmed. For every 10 lorries travelling on the bypass, only one is in Okehampton. There is a 7.5-tonne lorry ban in Okehampton and that one lorry is almost certainly delivering or loading in the town. In the report, 71% of those questioned stated that the bypass had been successful in reducing lorry traffic.
The other premise that the hill at Sourton Cross is so steep that drivers prefer to go through the town is nonsense. The hill presents no problem for today's lorries and the route through the town has an equally t steep hill on it. Additionally, the argument at drivers prefer to risk transgressing a lorry ban and travel further through a small market town just does not stand up. Unfortunately, as you state in your article, the environmentalists have latched on to this statement and concluded that bypasses do not work. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Michael Farmer, regional director,
Road Haulage Association.