Chaos on the southbound A1 between Grantham and Stamford at teatime today as a broken down tractor caused major delays and miles of tailbacks.
Can anyone tell me why on earth we allow tractors to trundle along the main east-coast route from London to the north…?
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7 comments:
Phil
We shouldnt allow HGVs and vehicles like this on the roads between 8AM - 8PM.Think how much better this would be for climate change,reducing carbon emissions and keeping traffic moving so we will not need to build bypasses all over the green fields of Lincolnshire.Now that would be a radical policy change but if India,Switzerland and others can do it why cant we?
anonymous:
Interesting thought, but we all rely heavily on the goods that the HGVs are delivering.
So i'm not sure about banning HGVs on main roads during working hours - at least not until we develop alternatives such as getting some of the freight back on our railways...and some of the people too!
I suspect a daytime HGV ban may not actually reduce carbon emissions as they would simply travel at night and the emptier roads during the day would encourage more journeys by other vehicles.
I think you will find more carbon emissions are produced on clogged roads and in congestion than by freely moving traffic but i agree we need to get more freight on rail and that needs big investment whoever is in charge.Trains are very busy as are buses with a 24% increase in bus passengers in Lincolnshire in the last quarter (so i heard or read recently).Call Connect is a fab service and for that we should all be glad.
Call Connect is indeed a fab service, anonymous.
Can we have it in rural South Kesteven?
Apparently not
I agree with you Phil but it is a sensitive issue in a rural area. I watched a documentary on Farming in Hereford and the tractor drivers in that area were in competition with each other as to how many vehicles they could accumulate behind their tractors. I sometimes wonder if the same game is not going on in the South of the County as the main trunk roads are often clogged following tractors that do not always pull in. Frustration of course leads to accidents. I understand tractors do not pay road fund licence and I believe they use agricultural diesel which is cheaper to purchase. Funny how they have the right then to clog up routes never mind leave minor roads dangerous when they fail to clear up mud.
I do not know what is the answer although I would love to ban large transporters, tractors etc as anonymous suggested. I accept the argument that you would need better rail networks. We could also open up more of our waterways. What a wonderful idea. I fear all the talk about increased green taxes - indeed I am angry as why should I and business pay more when all is wiped out by emerging markets in places such as India and China. They are not worried about emissions. I understand the UK has been much better than many of our European partners in somewhat meeting targets under Kyoto so even those green Europeans have not met the standard. Now - I would consider paying more in taxes if they were ringfenced to improve railways and waterways to transport our goods. We could then have annual targets to reduce heavy vehicles on our roads and I would gain by receiving my goods and having less congested roads. As a start we should introduce a levy on all overseas HGV vehicles using our roads. It is wrong that we do not charge when drivers from this country have to pay once they cross the channel. We really will have to start being innovative - we do not have the land or funds to continue with road building.
Liz:
good comment thanks.
You are right about tractors not paying the same tax as the rest of us.
Farmers pay just 5.22 pence per litre duty on their diesel.
The rest of us pay tax of 47.10 pence per litre for our diesel.
Getting China and India to slow down their carbon emissions is a huge challenge.
We in the so-called developed world caused the problem in the first place. Now that China and India want to catch up, who are we to tell them they can't!!
brynley: agree with you about Call Connect.
Yes, it would be a huge success serving the A15 Bourne - Peterborough corridor. (maybe even to Morton).
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