Talking sense?
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• Nothing could illustrate more clearly why road haulage has an image problem than Brian Weatherley's fatuous editorial ("Green Revolution") (CM 26 Sept-2 Oct). If this type of sheer ignorance and inability to face reality extends very far beyond the pages of Commercial Motor the industry is in for a very tough time in the 1990s.
I would like to point out that: 0 Inland waterways have a highly successful record of freight movement across much of Europe and the US. Coastal shipping could also play a greatly enhanced role, especially if the Government would cease its anti-British policy of running down our merchant marine.
o AASHO stands for the American Association of State Highway Officials, a body not known for its anti-lorry views. AASHO conducted tests on road wear comparing a 10-wheel 40-tonner with a four-wheel car. Its conclusion was that the lorry did as much damage as 160,000 cars. Given the widespread overloading that still exists in this country — recently given a considerable boost by the decision not to prosecute up to 10% above legal limits—the figure of a 200,000 cars equivalent may be a conservative estimate.
0 The fuel efficiency of most HGVs could easily and cheaply be improved (see The Independent newspaper 23 Sept).
o The European Community has just announced proposals for a Carbon Tax, based presumably on the assumption that current rates of fuel consumption and vehicle pollution are simply unsustainable.
0 Now that the true costs of toxic pollutants are being added to all the other costs lorries impose on society, research from Germany that lorries fail to cover their track costs by a factor of five looks about right. 0 The marginal transport costs of one can of beans in a supermarket are infinitesimally small.
Road freight's best interests lie in adopting more flexible patterns of use and above all in attacking the strangulating effects of increasing car traffic. Recent research by the Dutch government suggests that 60% of car trips cannot be regarded as essential.
Don Mathew Lowestoft, Suffolk.
'Facts' from overseas are not relevant to British haulage — Ed.