The Government is proposing to raise the speed limit for lorries on rural roads by up to 25 per cent. The national speed limit for heavy goods vehicles on single carriageway roads is currently 40mph, but there are moves to increase it to either 45mph or 50mph.
Road haulage companies argue that the 40 mph speed limit causes: “unnecessary cost to vehicle operators, congestion, avoidable overtaking accidents and creates an uneven playing field for businesses”
It does not follow that increases in speed reduce congestion and there are many environmental impacts and potential effects on road safety to be considered not least the increased risk to cyclists.
According to cycling charity, CTC, an organisation that objects strongly to the proposals, lorries are already involved in 19% of cyclists’ deaths despite accounting for just 5% of motor vehicle mileage on Britain’s roads.
Lorry bans
Rather than relaxing the laws relating to HGVs in rural areas, there is strong argument for enforcing existing laws – 70 per cent of lorries break the current speed limit of single carriageway roads – and going further by banning them in certain areas. Lorries weighing over three-and-a-half tonnes present such a risk to cyclists in urban areas that they should be removed and a more appropriate means of delivery found, according to a recent academic report.
The report, Deaths of cyclists in London: Trends from 1992 to 2006, shows that over the space of fourteen years freight vehicles were involved in over half of all incidents. And if those figures did not paint a bleak enough picture of the risk posed by HGVs in London, it seems that it may be even worse. The situation is not helped by the many thousands of additional lorry journeys associated with preparation for the 2012 Olympics.
Increasing risk
To put the figures into context it is important to remember that cyclists’ overall death rate has been declining, but there are those who argue that had the recent decline in car/cyclist deaths been taken into account, the study would have shown that deaths associated with lorries now represent an even higher proportion.
If you watch out for anything, make it a left-turning lorry
Large lorries in towns pose a disproportionately high risk to cyclists. Of particular danger is the left-turning lorry – the driver of which may not see a cyclist in his near side mirror. Safety mirrors, when fitted to the vehicle and occasionally traffic lights, can help by minimizing a lorry’s blind spot, but cyclists need to keep their wits about them when in close proximity to large lorries.
A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) said: “The best piece of advice for cyclists in towns and cities is to give lorries, coaches and buses a wide berth. At junctions and side turnings be aware of lorries approaching from behind on the road that may be about to turn left and at lights do not position yourself directly in front of large vehicles – the driver may pull away without having seen you.”
Do I need cycle insurance?
The short answer is yes. Bikes are vulnerable to theft and in the case of an accident you may need to seek compensation or even deal with a claim by someone else. Cycle insurance from the ETA includes new-for-old replacement, third party insurance, personal accident cover and if you breakdown, a recovery service for you and your bike.
Jim Clark
WHAT!!!! When since have HGVs kept to a 40mph limit on rural roads more like 60 or faster. I know I’ve lived and worked in rural areas for over 50 years. Not 70% but 100%
Peter Verhage
To a certain degree they have a point. Overtaking on single lane roads is dangerous. So limit the max speed for the rest of the traffic to that of the HGV. Whatever that me be, 40, 45 or even 50.
Cycleboy
I have always cycled to school and work. I’ve owned motorbikes and cars and have recently gained my HGV licence. Consequently, I can appreciate the needs of many road users.
Driving behind a lorry on a single carriageway road at 40mph – even knowing the lorry cannot go faster – is frustrating. I’ve no proof that car drivers make more dangerous overtaking manoeuvres, but I wouldn’t be that surprised.
As for an increasing speed causing more cycle injuries or deaths, I’d like to see the statistics. My guess is that most injuries occur where cyclists try riding up beside a truck and get hit when it turns. This is unlikely to be when the truck is travelling at speed, so I just doubt whether an increase of top speed would radically affect those stats.
Most lorries have really good mirrors; both ‘normal’ ones and a wide angle one. Seeing down the side of the body is not usually a problem; except at night!! A cyclist dressed in dark clothing and not using lights would be invisible, especially if it was also raining. Just the other night I saw 3 such cyclists on a busy single carriageway road. A cyclist trying to pass a lorry on the inside in those conditions ought to have their bumps felt. Clearly, some cyclists do not have any idea just how vulnerable they are. Way back in the 60s, I passed my National Cycling Proficiency test. Does anything like that still exist? Seeing the numpties on bikes these days, I’d be surprised if it does.
Pete Webb
Reduce the speed of ALL traffic – single lane roads should be 50 mph. Town centres and streets with shops and children should be an automatic 20 mph.
Motorways should be the same as France 80 mph in good weather and an ENFORCED 60 mph in rain, fog, snow, etc.
Robert
Overtaking on a single lane road is not dangerous for a competent driver. Raising the speed limit would reduce the number of drivers needing/wanting to overtake in the first place. Speed limits should be raised for HGVs, because just like on motorways, the average speed is above the actual limit. No adverse changes in accident rates is therefore likely.
Thegreatpretender
The average speed is always going to be 10 – 15% higher than the speed limit because there is so little enforcement.
Jos
This article is sooooo badly written and biased. The story is about rural speed limits for HGVs, but jumps into the issue of cyclist/HGV conflicts in urban areas. If you’re going to try and influence speed limits to restrict HGVs at least let’s consider the impact…. question 1. How many accidents involving lorries in rural areas and question 2. would a change to the speed limit increase that (or not)? A 40 mph limit is ludicrous, of course many HGV drivers ignore it, car drivers get frustrated and make dangerous overtaking manouevres. 50 for HGVs would reduce accidents.
Thegreatpretender
You’re soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo missing the point that lorries pose a disproportionate risk to all road users – across Britain they represent just 3.7% of traffic yet account for 19% of deaths. In urban areas it is even worse: whereas just 2% of traffic is HGVs, they are involved in a quarter of all cyclists’ road deaths. Can you now see why the article links the rural and urban driving environments?
Ken Hawkins
This proposal is surely from the same silliness that argues that, since everyone breaks the speed limit, we should increase it. Increasing the legal speed allowed for lorries on single carriageways will simply allow those lorries already exceeding the limit to go even faster, to the detriment and danger of other road users (especially pedestrians, horse riders and cyclists). It will not deter the impatient car driver or motorcycle rider, who will still want to get past and go even faster, regardless of their or others’ safety. Better enforcement and more severe penalties are the way to tackle this.
Chris Drewery
In the south east, where roads are busier and also engineered to a low standard, with many junctions/villages/tight bends/narrow carriageways any increase is entirely inappropriate and would have negligible effect on journey times. On most of these roads the 60mph limit should be 50, which is what most small vehicles do voluntarily.
GrahamC
HGVs and oversize modern tractors are very dangerous to cyclists on narrow rural roads where I travel. Speed is a factor in this. They also cause most of the pothole damage which would just be worse at higher speeds. There is no
“unnecessary cost to vehicle operators” they just pass the cost in their charges. Cars overtaking HGVs would be easier if the HGVs were slower, not faster.
AndyP
My daily commute involves about 18 miles on a brand new road, it’s wide and pretty straight. By far the biggest threat to road safety is the handful of lorries that actually stick to the limit. They cause a build up of vehicles behind all travelling too close together and then dangerous overtaking by impatient drivers. By comparison a lorry travelling at say 50 mph causes no problems at and is much less risk to other road users.
Sean
The way to stop all the supposed accidents is for bikeists to not be so smart when on the roads and give the tax paying vehicle respect. People seem to forgot the hgv industry generates alot of tax revenue whereas cycling generates very little.