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ROAD PLANS FOR SO-TONNERS • In the October issue of
Page 64
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Workshop (CM 5-11 October) you reported briefly that John Prescott, the Labour Shadow Transport Secretary, had stated that 50-tonne trucks on special lorry-only highways could be introduced by a future Labour Government.
Assuming the report to be correct, it would be interesting to know what level of advice Prescott may have received, or what thoughts had been through his mind prior to making that statement. Were existing roads to be converted into lorry-only routes, or were totally new roads envisaged? Either way, neither suggestion stands up to close scrutiny.
Part of what he said does hold appeal, and separating lorries from other traffic has various attractions. Push aside dark thoughts of what customers would expect in rates reductions, or what wages expectations would be in drivers' minds, there are undoubtedly operators who could make good use of a 50-tonne outfit. Bearing in mind EC weights and dimensions, such heavy vehicles would probably be drawbar roadtrain outfits, but as the vehicles would also at some point join with other vehicles and travel on existing roads, the prospect of a double-bottom comes to mind.
If the idea was to designate certain specified roads as heavy lorry routes only, would such roads support a 50-tonne outfit? Sufficient axles could even reduce today's axle weight limitations, but what about. the bridges, which are apparently the stumbling blocks when an increase is sought to raise gross weights from 38 to 40 tonnes? What would happen to all the other vehicles which would be displaced by being banned from what would become lorry routes?
With some 22 million cars registered in the UK, one can imagine even greater congestion than at present.
John Smallshaw, Melksham,
Wiltshire.