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Road stations wanted for lorries
Page 41
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• The construction of road stations for goods vehicles as a contribution towards the relief of heavy vehicular traffic in towns is urged in a report of the International Road Transport Union (IRU). Well-sited mediumsized road stations with parking areas for lorries, and freight information offices, are recommended rather than a few very large centres which would "draw an unfavourable agglomeration of road vehicles" and saturate communications roads.
Numerous parking areas for the exclusive use of lorries on the outskirts of large towns are also urged because parking in central areas is almost non-existent, and bans on lorry deliveries become ever more onerous.
The report is critical of the prevailing attitude of city traffic control authorities to commercial vehicle operators. "The persons in charge of traffic regulations. . find themselves playing referee between the various interests at hand: private passenger car drivers, manufacturers, tradesmen or carriers using commercial vehicles in the course of their employment, public transportation and taxis". Because the authorities cannot help but fail to satisfy every member of all categories of road users, everyone's liberty is curtailed in the name of the common interest.
In many European towns, says the IRU, the infrastructure is inadequate for present day automobile traffic and the authorities "naturally tend to remove from traffic the most cumbersome vehicles that are considered as being the most in the way". Professional road hauliers and commercial vehicle users are thus subject to increasingly difficult working conditions, with added costs to customers, more stress on equipment, and a more tiring day for drivers, The report commends linear town planning as the most rational approach to traffic problems. It stresses that rush-hour commuti ing between home and work neutralizes the advantages of public transport. It urges that passenger and goods transport operators should qualify for priority over individual transport users.