Banning lorries in cities at peak hours will not work – FTA

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The Freight Transport Association (FTA) says a government proposal to ban lorries in cities to boost safety will not work.

The government is examining whether safety can be proved by restricting access to cities at peak hours. There’s now a special parliamentary group looking into the issue, particularly to boost cyclist safety.

The Prime Minister David Cameron has also highlights the fact that if this means banning HGVs then the government will look at the legislation necessary.

In response, the FTA says this is not the right way forward for road users.

Banning lorries would not improve safety

The FTA’s head of Logistics, Christopher Snelling, said: “Overall safety would not be improved, let alone the congestion consequences and emissions because a medium size lorry would need 10 vans replace it.

“It should be remembered that we do not choose to deliver at peak times since our customers need their goods when the working day starts.”

The FTA has now began talking to the Department for Transport on the issue of road safety and how all road users can improve it.

Mr Snelling added: “We are looking at the safety of everyone. While the early morning is the rush hour for cyclists while for pedestrians it is later. By forcing deliveries outside the morning peak hours would mean interacting with another group of road users.”

FTA’s plan to make our cities’ roads safer

The FTA says that a better approach to making our city roads safer would include:

  • Better enforcement against drivers and HGVs to comply with safety regulations
  • Improving the roads, particularly junctions and surfaces
  • Having operators sign up to the Construction of Logistics and Cyclist Safety Standards (CLOCS)
  • Improve lorry visibility with government incentives
  • Allowing operators to deliver outside peak hours, which means easing night restrictions (especially in London)
  • Gradually introduce improve vehicle safety standards

Mr Snelling explained: “When it comes to improving road safety, all road users have a role to play including better training, awareness and behaviour to make our roads safer.”

The FTA points out that the number of fatalities involving HGVs in the UK has halved in 12 years which helps underline their point that road safety has been improving.