New Regulations on Abnormal Loads
Page 32
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Special Order Needed for Loads Over 150 Tons : Longer Notice to be Given
NEW regulations governing the transport of abnormal indivisible loads will come into force on January 1 next. In some respects they will tighten and in others relax the law as it stands at present.
A special Order will have to be obtained from the Minister of Transport for the movement of any load of more than 150 tons gross (including the weight of the vehicle or vehicles) or more than 20 ft. wide.
The new instrument is known as the Motor Vehicles (Authorization of Special Types) Order, 1951, and it will replace paragraph 11 of: the Motor Vehicles . (Authorization of Special Types) General Order, 1941. That paragraph deals with the movement on roads of motor vehicles and trailers specially constructed to carry abnormal indivisible loads and of vehicles and trailers defined as engineering plant.
Minister must be Satisfied The requirement that a special Order must be obtained from the Minister for the movement ot a load exceeding 150 tons or 20 ft. wide is one of several new provisions. The Order will apply only to the individual movement for which application has been made and will not be granted unless the Minister is satisfied that the work is unavoidable and is practicable, having regard to the possible rou.les. If any plant, with its carrier, be likely to exceed the limits to be imposed and is to be transported after December, the manufacturer is advised, before accepting the contract to build it, to consult the Ministry on the prospects of obtaining an Order.
Where abnormal indivisible loads, and especially those exceeding 75 tons (including carrier), are to be hauled by road, the Ministry will advise on suitable routes The divisional road engirieer of the Ministry will deal with cases concerrilng gross loads under 60 tons and less than 16 ft. 3 ins, high overall. All other instances should be referred to the assistant chief engineer (bridges section). Ministry of Transport, Berkeley Squa,.e House, London, W.1.
Six Days' Notice • Where the total laden weight of a vehicle or combination of vehicles exceeds 75 tons, six days' notice, instead of two days, must, after January 1, be given to the highway and bridge authorities concerned, and two days' ,notice to the police. Another new provision is that, except where unavoidable, a vehicle carrying an abnormal indivisible load must not cross a bridge if another such load be already on it. and shall not remain stationary on the bridge.
Among relaxations of the existing law is the raising of the speed limit from 5 m.p.h. to 12 m.p.h. for certain loads.Special motor vehicles may have an overall width not exceeding 9 ft. 6 ins., . instead of .9 ft. This extension applies also to trailers, except „those which require • greater width for thy... safe carriage of a particular. load. . A30 Notices to the police of intended movements will be necessary only if the width cf the vehicle and load or plant exceeds 9 ft. 6 ins., instead of 9 ft., where the route is not alongside tram tracks. Moreover, notices to highway and bridge authorities need be given only where the weights exceed the limits laid down in the Construction and Use Regulations and in the Track Laying Regulations, instead of a maximum of 12 tons.
Certain vehicles and trailers defined as engineering plant will be allowed to travel at 8 m.p.h. or 12 m.p.h. instead of 5 m.p.h. The new requirements regarding notices to thepolice and highway and bridge authorities will apply to engineering plant, as well as to other abnormal vehicles.
New Definition The 1951 Order will define engineering plant as including only vehicles not constructed primarily to carry a load. Under the existing definition, it is permissible to operate unladen on the roads, certain types of vehicle, including some dumpers, which will be excluded from the scope of the new Order, and their use will not be allowed under it.
Steps are being taken to consolidate the remainder of the General Order, 1941, the amending Special Types Orders of general application, and the new Order.
The Minister is considering issuing another Special Types Order to permit the use, unladen. under appropriate conditions, of load-carrying vehicles which cannot be operated under the Construction and Use Regulations or under the new Order. This additional Order would permit movement, for example, between sites, otherwise than on a transporter.
HAULAGE UNITS WANTED
ACALL for tenders for the supply of a 120-ton trailer with suitable tractors has been issued by the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority, Yurong Street, Sydney, New South Wales. Closing date for the reception of quotations is November 6.
RECORD COACH TRAFFIC
rtA RECORD number of passengers travelling in and out of Victoria Coach Station, London, has been attributed to Festival of Britain attractions. It is estimated that by the end of this month.. 8m. people will have passed through in the 12 months.
The previous record was 7m. passengers in the year ended September. 1950.
New Licensing Exemptions
REGULATIONS granting exemption in certain cases from the requirement of the Road and Rail Traffic Act, .1933, that a goods vehicle shall not be used for the carriage of goods for hire or reward, or in connection with a trade or business, except under a carrier's licence, have now been consolidated. At the same time, the Minister of Transport-has extended the list of exemptions to cover other uses of vehicles which are technically goods vehicles and would otherwise require carriers' licences.
The new regulations came into force on Wednesday (September 19). Doctors, nurses, midwives, dentists and veterinary surgeons are now able to use, without a carrier's licence, vehicles carrying medicine, instruments or apparatus.
Exemptions are also granted for the use of pedestrian-controlled vehicles, motorcycles (including motorcycles with sidecars attached) for the carriage of tools, apparatus, or materials required by the driver in carrying on his trade or business; passenger vehicles with seats for not more than seven passengers, excluding the driver, when adapted to draw or drawing a trailer, if neither the trailer nor any goods carried in it be carried for hire or reward; and of locomotive ploughing engines, tractors, agricultural tractors, and other agricultural engines when used for certain agricultural and similar purposes.
Copies of the regulations, entitled "The Road and Rail Traffic Act (Exemption) Regulations, 1951," can be obtained from the Stationery Office.
THE OTHER MAN'S JOB TEN London Transport drivers, conductors and inspectOrs spent last week Studying, the activities Of rgunderland Transport Department