II EDITOR'S COMMENT
Page 11
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SLOWING DOWN
• The good ship "Anti-speed limiters" has just gone down with all hands. The Freight Transport Association's about-face has surely sunk it as effectively as a torpedo. Now it is just a matter of time before limiters become law.
Why the U-turn from the ETA? Officially the reason is to protect the environment by saving fuel and cutting CO' emissions, even though forcing car-owning commuters to carry no less than three passengers on every journey would probably be more effective.
Of course the ETA is right to place the environmental impact of HGVs high on its campaigning agenda. No doubt it realises that if the UK is to get 40-tonne artics before 1999 then the trade associations had better start showing the Great British Public that the UK haulage industry is responsible, professional, and above all safety conscious.
As for the RHA? It simply says: "The time will come when they will come in." Probably sooner, rather than later.
The one group likely to be against top-speed limiters are those HGV drivers who have been bullying their way up and down the motorway and getting the industry a bad reputation. The sooner someone or something limits their activities the better for all of us. But the FTA's decision must not be seen by the DTp or anybody else as the instant cure-all to HGV speeding, because it isn't.
Top speed limiters may well stop a 38-tanner exceeding 60mph on the M6; they won't stop an HGV driver from travelling at 50mph through a built-up area on a foggy afternoon when the local primary school turns out.
Moreover, as the FTA itself acknowledges, an acceptance of top speed limiters must not be linked to any talk of lower EC HGV speed limits — even though it will be hard for the average MP not to see it that way. Having accepted speed limiters, the industry must seize the initiative before it is grabbed by the anti-truck brigade. We must spread the word now: an ounce of that self-regulation is preferable to a pound of unpopular legislation — because in the current climate one or the other is inevitable.