Danger ahead with 38-tonnes?
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AS AN HGV driver, can I draw your readers' attention and drivers' attention to the situation looming up when the added axle to trailers starts in May?
I don't think enough
consideration has been given to the safety of other road users when these hastily-modified articulated outfits start competing.
The present articulated outfit is already a problem in the wet and icy conditions. How safely can your testing writers pull up on a wet motorway from 60mph with the new vehicles under test — 50yd-60yd or more? What do your reporters say?
Will we have to see five or six cars side swiped and a public outcry before the drivers' piece work system is made illegal and the 38-tanner criticised.
Most drivers I speak to do not realise their jobs are under threat. After all, four loads on a 38-tonner equals five loads on the 32-tonner.
Drivers are reasonable people on the whole and would wish more consideration was given by the Government to safety in the form of three-axle units when we would have control in bad conditions.
The union don't appear to be concerned but I would point out to everyone in the lorry industry, we are about to get a bad name unless the 38-tonne job is right for road safety and reward for the driver.
PETER DORY.
Knowle Bristol Our technical editor writes: At considerable expense to the manufacturer, and ultimately the operators, Type Approval has been introduced to avoid the situation you describe. Correct braking distribution between axles aided by load sensing devices and preferably anti-lock body systems can insure that the vehicles will remain stable under braking in all load and weather conditions.
With the extra axle individual axle loads are reduced and braking performance is improved. Systems approved by the chassis manufacturers are not hasty modifications, they take months to design, develop and prove in order to meet the stringent requirements of the Regulations.
Even within the constraints of 32 tons there has been movement towards heavier vehicles. Greater efficiency promotes prosperity and, in the long term, improves job opportunities.
EEC legislation prohibits bonus or incentive schemes which relate to distance and/or the amount of goods carried unless they do not endanger road safety. Both speeding and overloading are covered by this legislation. — Editor.