Heavies hit by lowe
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by Nicky Clarke • Hauliers operating trucks over 12 tonnes will need to recalibrate their speed limiters downwards from 60mph to 56mph before 1 January 1996 to comply with EC law.
The requirement, included with a long-awaited Department of Transport consultation document, covers all vehicles registered since 1 January 1988. New vehicles operating at 12 tonnes and above will have to be fitted with 56mph limiters by the end of this year.
The speed limiter setting for vehicles between 7.5 tonnes and 12 tonnes will remain at 60mph.
Under UK law, artics and drawbar combinations over 16 tonnes must be fitted with speed limiters by 1 August this year. By the start of 1996 they will have to be recalibrated from 60mph to 56mph.
Major operators including Parcelforce and P&O Distribution are already fitting speed limiters at 56mph to avoid further downtime later, says Lucas Kienzle's technical and ser vice manager Dick Edmonds. The timesc.ale is different for vehicles over 12 tonnes used on international transport: they will have to be fitted with limiters by 1 January 1995.
To dovetail with EC speed limiter requirements, the motorway speed limit for heavy trucks over 12 tonnes will be reduced to 55mph or 90km/h on 1 January 1996; the DOT has yet to decide whether to adopt an imperial or metric limit. The DOT is also proposing to exclude HGVs from the third lane in some areas on the M25 where there will be four lanes.
It has rejected industry calls for higher speed limits on dual carriageways where the HGV limit remains unchanged at 50mph.
Regulations enabling speed limiter changes and restrictions on motorway use will be introduced under the existing Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 over the next few years.