Standing up for caravanners
Page 38
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
As my work is in some ways indirectly connected with road transport, I am a regular reader of Commercial Motor. I am also a caravanner, and a member of the Caravan Club.
I am surprised by the bias shown in your report "Moves to curtail caravans."
During the summer months many more people, cars, caravans, and coaches, take to the roads which can only add to the delays to one and all. To put the blame so heavily on the touring caravan is hardly fair.
One could easily speak of the hold-ups and delays caused by heavy commercial vehicles, not only in the summer, but also during the winter months. Many times I have seen a convoy of lorries, sometimes from the same company, close together and making things very difficult for the overtaking traffic. Both lorries and caravans are subject to the same speed limits (excepting dualcarriageway and motorways) but the lorry is often slower on the 'hills.
I accept, of course, that you get " bad " and inexperienced drivers, but the former would apply to both sides and not all drivers of light commercials are experienced.
This is a personal view which some caravanners might not agree with, but I think that a small tax of some sort on caravans is not unreasonable. But it wouldn't help to solve the problems of delays on the roads, which are public highways for one and all.
D. N. B. NUTMAN, Reading, Berks.