Ask your MP to sign EDM 730 opposing trials of super trucks and support rail freight instead.
http://edmi.
Please can you ask your MP to lobby the Minister of State for Transport Dr Stephen Ladyman against super trucks (LHVs) and ask them to sign EDM 730 RAIL FREIGHT AND THE ENVIRONMENT, by Kelvin Hopkins which asks the Government to support steps to encourage modal shift from road to rail and therefore oppose the introduction of super trucks.
The Department for Transport is currently reviewing whether to allow trials of super trucks, known as LHVs, which range from 25.5 metres to 30 metres long with weights of 60 to 84 tonnes. This photo shows the most favoured option, the 25.5 metre truck prototype which has units which can be split and driven separately.
The scale of these vehicles
The 60-tonne 25.25-metre supertruck is the same weight of a Challenger tank; the 84-tonne HGV would be twice the weight and almost twice the length of existing HGVs.
There are huge questions over the safety, environmental and social costs these vehicles would impose on society as well as the impact on more sustainable forms of transport such as rail and water. Do you want to Share The Road with these monsters?
Rail freight's environmental credentials
Remember - per tonne carried rail produces between four to ten times less emissions than road transport, depending on the weight of products,
Rail freight can alleviate road congestion - an average freight train can remove 50 HGVs from our roads.
Public Opinion
The public are opposed to these super trucks on our roads which are the most congested in Western Europe. Freight on Rail is campaigning for enhancements on the rail network which will cater for longer and heavier trains.
Safety Implications of super trucks
DfT research showed that because of their size and weight, when they are involved in accidents the level of injury tends to be higher. The same research found that HGVs were twice as likely to be involved in fatal accidents as cars(3). There are concerns about braking distances, manoeuvability - especially on motorway roundabouts - and overtaking complications
LHVs will undermine rail freight viability
Such vehicles would decimate intermodal rail freight and some bulk flows thus forcing trainloads of freight back into our congested road network increasing harmful emissions. If market conditions remain constant, intermodal rail freight is forecasted to grow by over 60 per cent over the next 10 years.
Road access for super trucks
The promoters are claiming that these vehicles will be restricted to motorways, dual carriageways and major roads, but there is no mechanism available to keep them to this and the type of road has not been fully clarified. The reality is that these vehicles will need local access to distribution hubs which would not be on motorways/dual carriageways, but on roads which are totally unsuited to vehicles of this scale. We are concerned - as happened with a previous concession of 44 tonne vehicles to railheads only - that the restriction proposed will not in fact be enforced or enforceable.
Unlike other European countries, the UK allows all vehicles to operate on any road and at any time unless specifically prohibited from doing so. As a result, we will get these very large vehicles travelling down local roads that are wholly unsuitable for the purpose, with consequent intrusion, noise and road damage and safety implications.
Rail also provides another option at a time when there is uncertainty about energy sources, road reliability is worsening and rail freight provides a low carbon option.
2. An opinion survey carried out in August 2005 by NOP showed that over two-thirds of the public are opposed to a proposal - under consideration by government - to increase by one-third the length and weight of lorries permitted on the UK's roads.
3. Focus on Freight December 2006 chart 5.2b Deaths/KSIs in accidents involving HGVs per million km travelled
Members are - EWS, Freightliner, Rail Freight Group, RMT, TSSA, ASLEF, AMICUS, Network Rail and Transport 2000
Implications for cyclists - left turning lorries are one of the most common causes of cycling fatalities.
Please visit http://edmi.
Sheffield Cycle Campaign policy statement supports measures to reduce HGV movements-
see http://axelrod.plus.com/ppmw/index.php/Sheffield_Cycle_Campaign_Policies
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