What others say
Page 66
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
THE CAMPAIGN Against the Lorry Menace wants Britain to reject higher weight limits, and proposes six-monthly vehicle inspections, and town and citywide night bans on vehicles over 16 tons gvw. It suggests that lorries should have their road tax raised by between £3,000 and £5,000 a year, as it claims that they are being subsidised through rates and general taxation.
THE NATIONAL Federation of Women's Institutes is most concerned at EEC proposals to allow heavier lorries on British roads; they should not be permitted, it says, till the motorway network can take such loads. Bulk traffic should be transferred to rail.
THE NATIONAL Association of Local Councils says most British roads are unsuitable for the largest lorries allowed at present; bulk cargo trips should be regulated or alternative routes specified.
THE CIVIC Trust, composed of 1,300 local groups, says that proposals to increase permitted gross weight or axle weight of lorries should be refused.
But, it says, the 38and 40tonne five-axle vehicles are, for example, very different in their effects. However, it says that the EEC proposal for lorry dimensions should be accepted in principle.
While the FTA had said that heavier vehicles could become quieter than existing lorries, the Civic Trust can see no reason why they will be. It says that the Commission of the EEC should be asked to abandon its attempts to harmonise lorry weights.
LORRIES are smashing motorways to pieces, according to Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen's leader Ray Buckton. He told the Armitage Inquiry that more goods should go by rail.
MOST Members of Parliament are still violently anti-lorry, according to Leicester University's Dr Clifford Sharpe.
THE COUNCIL for the Preservation of Rural England says 107,000 of Britain's 207,000 miles of roads are unsuitable for heavy vehicles; it wants designated and advisory routes to remove unwanted hgv; and more goods moved to rail — through increased road taxation or restrictions on the issue of 0-licences.
ONLY A FEW people believe that there are more lorries on the road than necessary, says the Department of Transport, basing its opinion on information provided by the TRRL.
THE Association of District Councils says that if existing 32tonners were increased to 35tonners, there would be a 27 per cent increase in road damage. But it did concede that 40-tonne vehicles might improve matters.
FIVE HUNDRED by-passes are still waiting to be built in Britain, says the British Road Federation.
THE UNITED Road Transport Union is opposed to heavier lorries. URTU's Arthur Hughes said: "One would think that we are up to optimum size," but added that road transport is the most economic way of carrying goods.
THE NOISE Advisory Council says that 2.3m homes are exposed to road traffic noise above 68dBA, the level at which some homes qualify for insulation grant. Half a million homes are similarly affected by aircraft noise, and 80,000 by railway noise. Insulation costs for three rooms in each of these houses to keep the noise down (below 68dBA) would amount to £1.6m.
THE Department of Transport also says that according to a survey people are disturbed by lorries first when driving (noise, spray, and so on); secondly as pedestrians; and last when at home (noise and vibration).
THE Trades Union Congress is against any increase in lorry weights.
Evidence to the Armitage Inquiry was given by a delegation led by the National Union of Railwaymen's Sid Weighell and the Transport and General Workers Union's Jack Ashwell, who said that most operators, too, neither want nor need larger lorries.
The TUC's objections are mainly on the grounds of employment. It has already discussed proposed increases and received a reaction from Continental unions. Heavier lorries would not, says the TUC, improve working conditions and wages for drivers.