Lorry parks not a pious hope
Page 24
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• "Regulating traffic and parking is, in fact, regulating people, and when we make traffic orders, we control people's behaviour—we must never forget this", commented Mr. Robert Brown MP, Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport, speaking at the University of Liverpool seminar on Traffic Management and Parking on July 4.
The problems of traffic management had infinite permutations, he said: each town and city was different. But one problem seemed to crop up everywhere where to park heavy lorries.
"No one wants a 16-ton articulated vehicle parked outside his front door. It spoils the view; it presents an additional safety hazard. There is the business of oil and dirt and noise, above all noise . . . But it's no good blaming the lorry driver. It's not his fault. Road haulage is a vital part of the economy. With the best will in the world, road goods transport can't run to a formal timetable. And it is in the best interests both of the business and country that this sort of traffic should.get as close as possible to its loading and unloading point before parking.
"What we need are special lorry parks, properly planned and sited, with controlled security, vehicle servicing facilities and decent amenities for drivers in terms of food and accommodation. Some lorry parks exist already; they show what is possible. What we need now is a whole network. It will come one day, and then we will wonder how we managed without. This isn't just a pious hope. We are beginning to look now into just what is involved."