A2 Action Group says lorry drivers are Al
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THE A2 Action Group, which for more than 12 years has been fighting to get improvements made to the Dover to London route, has this week come out on the side of commercial lorry drivers as regards safety. It said that a large number of the accidents occurring on the A2 appeared to be the result of miscalculation by car drivers when passing TIR lorries or meeting them at junctions.
On Tuesday, the group mounted a special exercise aimed at warning tourists bound for the Dover or Folkestone ferries who had travelled a long distance before reaching the southern end of the A2. It invited the MP for Canterbury, Mr David Crouch, to travel in a 32-ton lorry, owned by Christian Salvesen, from the London end of the M2 to just beyond the village of Bridge. After his 12-mile trip, the MP had nothing but praise for the drivers of commercial vehicles.
"It's the first time, I have driven in a 'juggernaut' and I appreciated for the first time the difficulties such drivers face," he said. "They are handling vehicles of immense size and 1 was very impressed indeed with the care with which our driver handled this vehicle.
"He was showing great courtesy towards other road-users and great regard for all the road signs on the route. So I hold no blame against the heavy vehicle drivers; I never have done. They are great respectors of the road."
The MP thought no Government had given sufficient priority to the A2. They just did not seem to appreciate that it was the major traffic route to Europe, increasing in its load by 40 per cent a year.
Mr Crouch said that when Parliament reassembles, he would ask the Prime Minister personally to ensure that top priority was given to the road development from Brenly Corner to Dover, as well as the Canterbury by-pass.
Mr John Purchese, the chairman of the A2 Action Group, said that the latest study of traffic using the London to Dover road showed that more than one heavy lorry was now passing along the route every two minutes. When it came to other lorries, they amounted to one every 40 seconds of the day and night.
"We appreciate the difficulties the drivers of heavy commercial vehicles face on the A2. our grouse is not with them but with the Government for having failed to improve the road over the years," said Mr Purchese.