• COMMENT SAY NO TO 50
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• It is ironic that in the same week Commercial Motor unveils its exclusive survey on hauliers' reaction to the proposed 50mph (80km/h) Euro truck speed limit, another survey should appear on speed limits.
The Gallup Poll, published by the Daily Telegraph last Saturday, covered car rather than lorry drivers. According to that poll 51% of car drivers have exceeded 80mph in the last year. And, like the cars themselves, attitudes to speeding have changed considerably. In 1982 fewer than 1 in 20 car drivers went over 90mph. Today it's 1 in 7.
So while the great British public has been up in arms over a handful of antisocial lorry drivers breaking motorway limits, it has conveniently ignored what the vastly greater number of car drivers have been getting up to. And people are worried about truck speeding? What hypocrisy.
No sooner has the ink dried on UK limiter legislation than the EC is pushing for an EC-wide 50mph limit for trucks. Judging by CM's survey, British hauliers are against it in a big way.
Big enough to create unity among operators like never before, which could finally lead to the haulage industry speaking with one powerful voice — the voice of more than 100,000 0-licence holders and 450,000 LGV drivers.
The campaign message would be simple and strident: "Say no to 50". Well, who is going to start the ball rolling?