http://www.bettertransport.org.uk/new-research-britain’s-lorries-receiving-£5bn-annual-subsidy
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!
"Britain’s lorries receiving £5bn annual subsidy"
(8 posts)-
Posted 9 years ago #
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Britain's lorries also about to be carrying up to 56% more energy into each collision;
on safety grounds. Safety grounds. Safety.
Posted 9 years ago # -
So which politician will have the 'blood on their hands' from increasing the speed limit?
We need to shame them
Posted 9 years ago # -
I think it will be a blood on their hands issue in the end. I don't for a second believe it'll reduce dangerous overtakes no matter what their "compelling research" says (notice no mention of what the research was - imagine a survey)
Posted 9 years ago # -
I don't really have a problem with this.
I find it hard to justify differentiated speed limits to myself when there is legally no problem loading our car with tons of equipment (which completely changes the handling) and then razzing it at the same speed limit as before.
I'm open to persuasion if the casualty stats go through the roof, but to be frank, I think the HGVs I see are generally going over 40mph anyway.
Posted 9 years ago # -
If you push HGVs up to 50mph, you'll still get the "must get past" mentality from drivers who are probably doing 55, 60 anyway (given that "speed limits" seem to be openly interpreted as a suggested minimum cruising speed). An HGV on a tacograph is probably not likely to regularly flaunt the limit to the same extent as a private car (wishful thinking?).
Anyway, just like many motorists have to get past the "obstruction" of a cyclist going at 19mph in a 20mph zone, they'll have to get past the "obstruction" of lorry doing 51mph in a 50mph zone. You'll still get the dangerous overtakes but they'll not be happening at a higher speed, with a 20pm(+) increase in oncoming vehicle closing speeds. This means less reaction time and less time to get past on the same roads (therefore quite probably more collisions) and these will have much higher impact energy.
Of course, dropping car speeds to 40mph to unify the limits was obviously not on the cards.
Posted 9 years ago # -
The Telegraph story is about a proposal for England and Wales not Britain or UK. Unless the Scottish Government has plans we've not heard of yet ...?
Of course, dropping car speeds to 40mph to unify the limits was obviously not on the cards.
- This was one possibility considered during the consultation that local roads authorities might decide that 50mph is too high for lorries and introduce local (presumably 40mph) limits for all motorists and most respondents expect they might do thisPosted 9 years ago # -
"
British Cycling described the move as “staggering,” while Penny Knight, head of the cycling team at the law firm Leigh Day, criticised the government for putting financial interests over people’s safety.
“It is extraordinary that the cost savings to the haulage industry are being cited as the reasons for making our roads more unsafe for all road users, not just cyclists,” she said. “Any cost savings to an industry are not worth the deaths that will result from this legislation."
Referring to the Commonwealth Games, she added: “The timing of this announcement couldn’t be worse, just when we celebrate cycling as one of our key sporting events as a nation, the Government ensures that the roads on which many of our champions train are made more unsafe."
Chris Peck, policy co-ordinator at national cyclist’s organisation CTC, pointed out that the roads where lorries will soon be permitted to travel faster than they can at the moment are the very ones that already account for a high proportion of cycling casualties.
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Posted 9 years ago #
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