Road Bridge Restrictions
Page 29
Page 30
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
CONFERENCES are now being held in various parts of the country in connection with the proposed imposition of restrictions upon the weights of vehicles passing over many hundreds of bridges throughout the country and situated upon roads often constituting important traffic arteries.
The list of bridges to which limitation is to be applied is artfully compiled, because mention is made only of the maximum figure, which may apply merely to a few of those concerned. Reference is made to bridges which will be restricted "up to 12 tons gross load," but the majority may be limited to tonnages that are well below this figure.
Professed Concern for Public Safety.
The railways profess themselves to be greatly concerned as to the safety of their structures, and, consequently, as to that of the public, and they were particularly anxious to have Clause 30 of the Road and Rail Traffic Act brought into operation on January 1. In endeavouring to ru`sh matters in this way, they have let the cat out of the bag, for with bridges which have been standing for many years, and which, in very few instances, show any evidence of likely collapse, weakness or extra cost of maintenance, a matter of a few months of further service can hardly make any appreciable difference.
It must be remembered that all structures resulting from human effort perish in time, particularly if their maintenance be neglected, and in the comparatively few cases where it has been ascertained that damage has occurred it may well be that age has had as much to do with this as has the passage of road vehicles. In any case, restrictions to loads less than those legally permitted on the ordinary highway should become applicable only where bridges are actually proved by inde pendent experts to be incapable of carrying the full loads without danger or rapid deterioration, and then only as a temporary measure until such bridges can be rebuilt or reinforced.
As typical of the attitude of the other railways, the Great Western is demanding restrictions upon over 1,000 bridges, of which 733 are on Class 1 roads, the remainder being on Class 2 routes.
One of the greatest dangers of the situation is that the authorities responsible for bridges— whether they be the railways, canal owners or others—will be enabled to pick on particular users against whom they can proceed. No one could believe that they would be so foolish as to bar their bridges to all users, but this facility may give them an extremely powerful lever t'o use against their more important rivals. Vehicles owned by the railways or their associate cohcerns can be permitted freely to ignore the restrictions, whilst those belonging to others may be pounced upon—in fact, in this way, rivals could be dealt with one at a time in such a manner that the public would not be aroused to protest against flagrant abuse of the freedoni of the highway.
Preferential Restriction a Dangerous Weapon.
The Minister of Transport should consider well before putting such a dangerous weapon into the hands of one group of transport interests which may wield it with despotic power.
The whole scheme appears to us to have been devised on wrong lines, for itthrows the onus of • appeal upon the road user, whereas no restriction should be permitted unless the authority responsible for a bridge can prove to the satisfaction of the Ministry of Transport that such restriction is definitely necessary. As the matter stands, it might well be likened to the driver of a road vehicle having to plead to the keeper of a level-crossing for him to open the gates.
The Development of Fireproof Aircraft
EFFORTS are continually being made to render aircraft more immune from the dangers of fire. Metal now enters very largely into the construction of aeroplanes, and this is a tendency which is steadily advancing, but the greatest fire risk of all, as was unhappily emphasized by the recent total loss of an air liner, lies in the use of a volatile and highly inflammable fuel, the vapour from which can ignite at some distance from the bulk supply, and, flashing back, set the latter ablaze.
So far, the only solution of the problem that would appear to be really efficacious is the employment of oil fuel which' will not give oft inflammable gas unless warmed to a comparatively high temperature, and in its liquid form will not even ignite when in close proximity to a naked flame.
To use this fuel effectively, however, it is almost essential to employ a compression-ignition engine, and, as a result, we look to this type of power unit as constituting the greatest potential factor of safety in connection with the use of aircraft.
It would be a great encouragement to flying and to the development of air services in general if the Government stepped in and offered really substantial awards to makers or individuals who could produce reliable, highly efficient, lightweight oil engines which could take the place of at least some of the petrol engines. Various attempts have already been made in this connection, but more direct encouragement is required, and it would certainly pay the Government to be generous in this respect, because the future of Britain as a first-class power may depend to a very large extent upon our air strength, from both the military and the civil aspects
Lighter Vehicles and Claimed Tonnage
rr HERE is one aspect of the Road and Rail Traffic Act which will bear closer consideration. We have already, in referring to manufacturers' 1934 programmes, indicated how well the new productions meet the modified operating conditions which are brought into being by the Act, and in doing so we have had chiefly in view the fact that these new vehicles are lighter, and therefore less expensive ,so far as taxation is concerned, in proportion to the load-carrying capacity.
There is,. however, this other side to the question which hitherto has almost escaped notice. Class A " claimed " tonnage, for which the licensing authority must grant an application, is assessed according to the unladen weight of the vehicles concerning which the claim is made. In view, therefore, of the considerable reductions in unladen weight which 1934-model vehicles show as compared with those of previous years, it is possible for a haulier by replacing old and heavier vehicles by these new and lighter ones considerably to increase the load-carrying capacity of his fleet, even though the licences he receives do not afford him any additional " claimed " tonnage. It may well be possible in the case even of a comparatively small fleet of vehicles of medium size to squeeze an additional vehicle into the fleet without exceeding the aggregate of unladen weight.