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Speed differential increases risk
Page 30
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AT LAST SEE from your Comment column (CM,23 September) that I am not a lone voice after all. I had begun to think I was a one-person crusade to raise the profile of the very worrying issue of the differential between lorry and car speeds on singlelane,A-class roads.
For years I have been trying to raise this as a serious safety issue through the RHA,FTA and more recently the increasingly influential Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Business Transport Group, fronted by Jerry Blackett.This is as a consequence of my observations when driving, as I often do, up and down the A49 in Shropshire, between our transport operations in South and North Wales and being responsible for a fleet that does the same.
The issue, as stated, is the frustration created for car drivers who are queuing behind a single HGV doing (rightly) 40mph for mile after mile on a single-lane carriageway, when cars know they are permitted to travel at 60mph.
The near misses and occasional serious accidents I have witnessed as a result of a suicidal driver's attempting crazy overtaking manoeuvres leave me cold and occasionally shaking with fear at what might have happened. Often the on-coming truck has no chance to avoid such a situation yet probably becomes another statistical factor in the consequential accident inquiry.This is not an occasional sighting I witness examples of this on every journey. Something has to be done.
Modern trucks are safer, more manoeuvrable and have better brakes than ever, with ABS etc. Modern cars have also changed: the common family saloon has evolved into a high-speed machine capable of day-to-day speeds and acceleration I could only have dreamed of in my youth. In the hands of an impatient suicide merchant the family saloon becomes an even more lethal weapon.
I am not an advocate of raising speed limits across the board; lam a firm believer in the police slogan that "speed kills". Probably not unlike many others in my position,I spend the greatest proportion of my time on safety-related matters -safety is my single greatest priority.
As MD,! have overall responsibility for safety in our company. I am also vice-chairman of a steel industry safety Committee, again trying to influence strategies and policies for enhancing safety for drivers and other employees,both in the workplace and on the road.
lam absolutely committed to only making changes that enhance safety and which do not ever prejudice safety.'The issue referred to in this initiative,to address the differential in speeds between cars and trucks, is entirely aimed at improving the safety of road users and, unlike the reference in your Comment column, is in no way intended to address productivity that should not enter the frame.
Thanks to Commercial Motor for getting this important safety issue into the spotlight for the sake of those on A-Class roads who may, in the future, experience a serious accident or near miss caused by the speed differential issue,! hope it is successful.
Roger Boughton MD, MultiSery Logistics Leatherhead, Surrey