Brussels proposes
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• The European Commission announced plans this week to allow longer articulated vehicles and roomier cabs. From 1 July 1989, Brussels wants to extend the total authorised length of an artic from 15.5m to 16.5m and to impose a maximum 12m length between the kingpin and the rear of the trailer. Pressure has been mounting in Brussels to specify exact trailer lengths to stop manufacturers shortening artic cabs and squeezing more room into the trailer. Many operators and drivers feel that shortened cabs with top sleeper pods are dangerous in an accident because the intrinsic strength of
the cab has been weakened by effectively cutting it in half. Cross-cab roof members, for instance, are often cut or redesigned to allow bunks to be fitted above the driver's head, leaving the cab to concertina up in a head-on collision.
Under the new rules, which Europe's Council of Transport Ministers will consider at its next meeting in Luxembourg late next month, all artics will have to be fitted with a coupling system designed in accordance with ISO 1726, which means that 1.6m will have to be allowed in front of the kingpin for turning purposes, leaving 2.9m for the cab and 12m for the trailer. To maximise load space in the trailer, some modern top sleeper cabs are being built less than two metres long.
Existing top sleeper cabs will not be forced off the roads if the Commission's plans are accepted, says Brussels, but they will have to comply with the current 15.5m overall artic length limit which will remove their economic advantages.
The International Road Transport Union says that it is happy with the proposals, which should make artics safer.
The Commission has also proposed to increase the maximum GVW for two-axle rigids to 18 tonnes, with effect from 1 January 1990. The maximum