erseyside calls r gvw increases
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YSIDE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE and Industry has or the raising of the permitted maximum gvw, and for an ecision by the Government to assist both transport rs and vehicle manufacturers in their long-term plan led rly era tg. Th Transport Minister has t u an independent inquiry to eavy lorries and their ipa t on the environment.
side Chamber believes at he Government should ess or the adoption of new op sals submitted by the Commission whereby eci ed standards on weights nd mensions) would be id d wn for vehicles authored to circulate freely ro hout the Community, hil other vehicles would we o comply with national an ards only. "Internatiotlly used vehicles would be !avi r than those conforming ith resent UK legislation, t e current limit of 32.52 nn gvw makes it difficult operators to compete ith ontinental traffic," the r says.
Fe rs about the possible enron ental impact of heavy rri are understandable but heavier lorries need not imply bigger lorries. No increase in the present axle-weight restriction of 10.15 tonnes was necessary. Studies conducted by the UK Transport and Road Research Laboratory demonstrated that vehicles with gross weights of up to 44 tonnes produced no greater dynamic loads on the road surface, nor greater vibrations, than many of the existing 32.52 tonnes.
Raising the weight limit for lorries would enable carriers of certain dense products to make more effective use of vehicles without increase in size, leading to a reduction in the number of vehicles on our roads. The possibility in some trades of having containers fully loaded instead of being restricted by weight limitations to part loading was attractive in cost reduction terms to industry serving the ports. Heavier vehicles made more effective use of fuel than smaller units. A 40-tonne vehicle could exhibit a fuel saving of 8 per cent per tonne of payload, as against a 32tonne vehicle.
"Except for very short-span bridges, those bridges and retaining walls constructed since 1922 should be capable of sustaining the small increases in stresses heavier lorries might impose. Heavier lorries might have to be restricted to routes which do not include bridges built before 1922, but this should not prove unduly restrictive," the chamber adds.