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Rigids rule the road
Page 24
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The latest NT figures show that rigids continue to outnumber &tics on Britain's roads by nearly three to one. Dylan Gray reports.
WITH THE DISCUSSION about longer, heavier vehicles (LHVs) in full flow at the moment, it seems a wonder why so many people are opposing a move that would see the number of trucks on the road cut. Or de people want to see more trucks?
Whatever the reason, we decided to look at the Department for Transport's (DfT) recent publication Road Freight Statistics 2006to find out the numbers and types of trucks that are on Britain's roads.
At the end of 2006 there were around 446,000 goods vehicles over 3.5t registered in Great Britain, of which 11% were first registered in 2006. This was slightly down on 2005.
Yet looking back there has been an 8% increase since 1996, from 413,000 to 446,000 vehicles. The split between artics and rigids has remained fairly even over that period, with rigids currently accounting for around 73% of the total.
Of that rigid majority, box vans made up the greatest number in 2006 with 6,900 new registrations, followed by tippers with 5,700 registrations. The number of skip-loaders and flatbed trucks was significantly smaller.
The weight group of up to 7.5t was in the clear majority in 2006 with a total of 153,100 vehicles. In second place was the 15-181category with 64,500 vehicles, and last, but not least, was the 7.5-15t category with 29,100 vehicles.
The DfT document has revealed some promising figures regarding accidents involving LGVs. From 1996 to 2006 there was a 39% drop in the number of people killed or seriously injured in reported personal injury road accidents involving at least one LGV. The number of fatalities fell by 28% over the same period.