DOT warned of risks caused by coach ban
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• Hauliers are warning that Government plans to ban coaches from the outside lane of motorways will result in lane hopping, bunching and tail-gating. The ban will affect motorways with three or more lanes.
It will come into force for a two-year trial on 1 January 1996, coinciding with a reduction in the coach speed limit from 70mph to 65mph.
Announcing the ban, Transport Secretary Dr Brian Mawhinney expressed concern about the "safety implications of allowing coaches to continue using the outside lane when they can no longer travel at the same maximum speed as cars".
The Road Haulage Assoc
iation argues that the ban will simply shift the problem into the other lanes: The differential in speed between coaches and trucks will be greater than between coaches and cars," it warns. "We believe that there will be some increased risk of serious accidents if coaches capable of 65mph have no alternative but to travel in lanes occupied by lorries limited to only 56mph."
Driver James Cameron of Linwood-based haulier Gordon Leslie agrees: "I don't understand why the Government wants to do this, it will just mean more people out in the middle lane which will slow us all down."