Lords approve speed limit changes
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but no increase for drawbar outfits
from our Parliamentary correspondent • The 60 mph motorway speed limit on goods vehicles exceeding 3 tons unladen weight will be kept under review in the light of progress with improvements in design and maintenance.
This promise was made by a Government spokesman last week when the House of Lords approved regulations varying the speed limits for a wide range of vehicles. It came from Lord Mowbray and Stourton, who explained the thinking behind the new limits.
The raising from 40 to 50 mph of the speed limit for goods vehicles not over 30csvt, and not drawing a trailer would enable them to keep up more readily with the general traffic flow.
"The current speed limit of 40 mph is unrealistic for these vehicles, which are basically derivatives of private cars, with comparable performance and braking capacity." he said.
"The removal of the speed limit altogether, in line with the position of private cars, is not warranted on grounds of safety, having regard to the somewhat poorer accident rate.
"Light goods vehicles are frequently more heavily loaded, with correspondingly longer braking distances, than private cars; and the driver has more restricted visibility. The 50 mph limit is a sensible compromise."
The other Regulation introduced a speed limit of 60 mph for goods vehicles over 3 tons unladen weight when driven on motorways. It retained the existing limit of 50 mph for public service vehicles drawing trailers. and 40 mph for all other vehicles drawing a trailer with less than four wheels or a close-coupled four-wheeled trailer.
The Regulations were approved after a discussion marked by what one peer called "common sense" on both sides of the House.
Labour man Lord Winterhottom said he thought it right that the very valuable and very .expensive capital equipment which went trundling along the trunk roads should reach the maximum speed and productivity, and travel at the maximum safe speed. For this reason he thought it entirely sensible that the Government should introduce these new Regulations.
But he asked what machinery there was to ensure that drivers of heavy European vehicles they came from as far away as Bulgaria would be informed of these speed limits.
And what guarantees were there that the standards of maintenance of these foreign vehicles were as high as we expected from our own? He expected that in fact it was very high and was carefully supervised by the State.
Lord Redmayne, who noted his commercial connection with the Freight Transport Association and his chairmanship of the Trustees of the British Industry Roads Campaign, said that the increase in the speed limit for light vans would benefit some 900,000 vehicles.
Lord Redmayne recalled that in April last year the Labour Minister of Transport had said that the review of the 60 mph motorway speed limit for heavy vehicles would be made in the light of progress in vehicle design and maintenance by the end of 1972. He did not want to tie this Government down, but this would seem a reasonable target date.
By that time all load-carrying vehicles would have the same braking standards as private cars, and annual testing should by then be firmly established for all commercial vehicles over 30cwt unladen weight which were more than one year old.
Equally. by that time the majority of drivers would have had to qualify for a heavy goods vehicles driver's licence, added Lord Redmayne.
Lord Redmayne asked about the speed limit for commercial vehicles on dual carriageways as opposed to motorways. It was, he said, the opinion of people in the industry that the time had come when these limits could safely be increased from 40 to 50 mph again.
He pointed out that goods vehicles with drawbar trailers, other than certain light trailers, were still restricted to 30 mph. This limit must be considered out-dated in the light of modern developments in braking and vehicle stability. The use of these vehicles which towed drawbar trailers had greatly increased since it became unnecessary to carry an attendant on vehicle trailer combinations. Therefore an increase in the speed limit of 40 mph would bring them into line with goods vehicles generally, including articulated vehicles, which again would benefit traffic flow.
Lord Somers wondered whether it would be practicable to confine heavy lorries entirely to the first lane of a motorway, to stop overtaking. Lorries overtaking each other could sometimes take a long time to do so, and could be a source of danger. It might be necessary to make a minimum speed limit so that one would not get behind a slow-moving vehicle and not be able to overtake it.
Lord Mowhray and Stourton, replying to Lord Winterbottom's points about heavy foreign lorries, said that regulations between different countries were getting tied up more and more. He was advised that it would be open to the operators' association to make sure that foreign operators were informed of speed limits.
The operators would be responsible for the knowledge of the foreign driver who might be driving a foreign vehicle.
Lord Mowbray and Stourton said that increased speed on dual carriageways was open to objection. Dual carriageways were not of any standard nature; some were short, some lOng, some ended very suddenly and there were all sorts of hazards.
In addition, the Government was somewhat unwilling to impose on hgv drivers too many regulations. They were already going to have to remember two limits, 60 mph on motorways and 40 mph on other roads. If there were yet another limit for dual carriageways, the matter would perhaps be complicated too much, and it might result in less observation of the limits.
The Government felt it would not be safe to raise from 30 to 40 mph the limit for goods vehicles with drawbar trailers. But it might be possible to reconsider this point when braking standards of goods vehicles were raised.
These regulations were made in 1968 and had to take into consideration that there were a great many old vehicles on the road. Concessions had, therefore, been made in the regulations of efficiency standards which the Government would like to see altered. When this had been done, and conditions had improved, there also had to be consideration of the ratio to be imposed between the weights of the lorry and the trailer if the speed limit were raised.
He promised to take note of what Lord Somers had said about hgv being confined to one lane. But with a speed limit of 60 mph it would be slightly unfair to confine all vehicles of this sort, because even if there were a speed limit of 40 mph for some heavily laden vehicles, there would still be the need to overtake.
On the whole, long-distance lorry drivers were considerate drivers, rather better than average, and this must be left to their common sense.