Give way to trucks says Sir Stan
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PREFERENCE for big trucks in the form of lorry lanes was urged by West Midlands County Council Sir Stan Yapp at the Association of Metropolitan Authorities conference last week.
When improvements to minor roads were being considered, he said, it might be necessary to give preference to big lorries.
"Why give preference to buses alone ? " he asked.
Sir Stan urged that special lorry lanes should be introduced in the same way that bus lanes work in order to speed the passage of the trucks.
Speaking at the new National Exhibition Centre, he said : "If we are not prepared to give serious consideration to favouring freight vehicles in this way we are going to find increasing numbers of derelict factories in our inner areas."
He said : "In the end it is a matter of balance; we are not seeking to develop bus priority, measures regardless of other road users but as an element of an overall transportation policy."
The traffic management of authorities ought to allow for the discrimination in favour of commercial vehicles. He could not agree with the view that priority bus measures resulted in inconvenience to other road users. The majority of road users experienced delays caused by less efficient road users.
Schemes to stop private car penetration of central areas must also be considered while allowing full access to public transport in the cities.
"Again a balance must be struck," he said, " relating the economic life of central and other areas to the environmental, social and commercial disadvantages of unrestrained transport."
(See Management Matters p.75.)