Ministers consider allowing longer lorries with bigger loads on the roads to cut down on pollution
A fleet of 1,800 extended trailers are currently being driven around the UK
At 15.65m, they are two metres longer than currently allowed on the roads
This allows them to carry two more rows of pallets or three rows of goods cages
Ministers see lengthening HGVs as a simple way of cutting carbon emissions
I thought we were leaving?
I’d prefer to see things that were a few hundred metres long, travelling on electrical power, at night, and just use these lorry efforts for the last few miles. I’m sure we used to have something like that.
So they are passing off increasing the costs we all pay for road traffic as a Green policy?
Why don’t they just admit that the industry has been lobbying for this because it keeps their costs down – as nice as that is for the rest of us. But that the people who live in fairly narrow streets will be paying for the costs of this.
Not to mention those people who drive small to reasonable sized cars who will be hit by these monsters while driving down the motorway.
I thought we were leaving?
Maybe we are and maybe we aren’t. It depends on what that useless harridan says in Florence later today.
SMFS
You’re back.
That was a long holiday.
So Much For Subtlety
Ah, welcome back!
Obvious solution: only allow them on motorways and trunk roads.
Ahh, they’re just kicking the can down the road forever. See also: Heathrow’s third runway.
“I’d prefer to see things that were a few hundred metres long, travelling on electrical power, at night, and just use these lorry efforts for the last few miles. I’m sure we used to have something like that.”
Sounds like a great way to leave the entire economy in the hands of a few thousand unionised workers to me……………
I had a tour of Felixstowe dock yesterday, where there are three rail terminals (albeit on a single track line) with 33 train movements a day (from memory), and the chap conducting the tour said that we might think the roads are congested but the rail network is absolutely chocker.
Quick fix to improve lorry fuel economy:
Allow up to 1.5M front and 1.5M rear for retractable drag reduction improvements. Materials, technology and prototypes exist.
Is this limit a weight issue, clearance issue, or a normal government regulation?
If the problem is weight, then I suggest you copy Michigan’s policy. 42 wheelers(8 4-wheel axles per trailer + 2 4-wheel drive axles on the tractor + 2 steering wheels on the tractor) seems to work there.
If the problem is clearance, just level everything and rebuild. It worked for Germany.
If it’s the typical government regulation, overly broad with no margin for advancements, then the EU might have a point. They can still sod off though.
For those that don’t believe they exist, here is a picture of a seven axle trailer. I got bored looking for 8 axle trailers but I’ve seen them on the road.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/KwV3iQ61Fp8/hqdefault.jpg
Yank: mostly it’s the infrastructure, roads are designed (where they are designed) for a certain maximum speed and a certain maximum sixe of vehicle. You’d need to re-engineer a lot of bends and junctions to get longer veheicles on them, just like saying “ooo, just put bigger trains on the tracks” ignores the reality that rail lines are built for trains of certain maximum dimensions. Electrifying the main lines required raising hundreds of bridges to get the electrical infrasture in.
Then the EU can pay for the upgrades or bugger off. You’re leaving anyway.