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Lords reject a 50mph speed limit on single carriageways
Page 16
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The House of Lords has discussed the single-carriageway speed limit for trucks, but don't expect any movement soon. David Harris reports.
THE SPEED LIMIT for trucks on suitable single-carriageway roads should go up from 40rriph to 50mph, the House of Lords was told last week.
Baroness Hanham proposed an amendment to the Road Traffic Regulations Act to raise the limit on the grounds that it would make roads safer by discouraging other motorists from overtaking slowmoving trucks.
She added that a higher limit was also justified because "lorries have become safer; their braking is more efficient and the quality of many of our single carriageways — particularly trunk roads — has increased significantly".
Baroness Hanham was supported by HGV licence-holder Earl Atlee, who warned that the 40mph limit "creates a terrible temptation, often in frustration, to overtake a heavy goods vehicle". He said the main reason for the amendment was "pure safety".
But the amendment was not supported by other members of the Lords. Lord Berkeley characterised it as "another amendment that seems to argue that is safer to go faster".
He told his fellow peers: "The statistics produced by the Department for Transport show that poor overtaking in those circumstances is implicated in only 4% of fatal crashes, while excessive speed is a factor in 28% of such incidents."
Lord Berkeley claimed that nearly three-quarters of HGVs exceed the speed limit anyway. and Lord Bradshaw argued that if the limit was raised they would go even faster.
Lord Berkeley's advice to frustrated motorists stuck behind trucks was blunt: The best thing for a frustrated motorist to do is to stop and have a cup of coffee or take a tranquilliser.
"If motorists are feeling that frustrated they should not be driving. Lorries have just as much right to be on the road as cars."
Baroness Hanham voluntarily withdrew her amendment after the debate, although she said that she did not intend to give up the effort to change the law.