Committee asks for weight-watch plan
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k 40-tonne weight limit has been proposed by the Economic and Social Committee of the European Communities which represents the views of trades unions and employers, reports our Brussels correspondent.
They say that the maximum kiss vehicle weight should be 10 tonnes, and that there should be no more than five ixles in any combination.
The axle weight of a twoixle tractive unit should not .?.xceed 11 tonnes. This con.rasts with the European Zornmission's proposal last year for a 44-tonne limit.
One exception, says the 7.ommittee, could be to make derogations for the transport 3f 40ft containers over strictly imited routes. For these, it suggests a maximum of 44 or 15 tonnes.
Voting — 70 for, 17 against, and 12 abstentions — reflects a coincidence of views of trades unionists, railway interests, environmentalists, and a section of the European manufacturing industry.
It says that there is a need to apply the limit in order to help the railways' economics, and to encourage greater coordination between different forms of transport.
And French manufacturers are against a higher limit, as they fear that widespread use of vehicles over 40 tonnes would cut the volume of their business.
For Britain, National Freight Corporation's Frank Law is also understood to have voted in favour of the 40-tonne limit.
The next step in the longrunning European lorry weights saga is likely to be a public hearing organised by the European Parliament.
Efforts are being made to hold this in Brussels in March so that unions, transport operators, and other interested bodies can air their views. The Council of Transport Ministers is scheduled for May or June, but no decision on lorry weights is expected then.
With the Armitage Committee not reporting until July at the earliest, Britain, for one, will not be in a position to make any immediate commitments on lorry weights.
Other recommendations made by the committee include a call for the European Commission to act quickly on the question of cab and bunk equipment in goods vehicles of over 3.5 tonnes.
They want early improvements to be made to road safety, and propose that new vehicles should comply with EEC legislation on noise, smoke emission, braking, and steeering.