CTC warns of danger to cyclists as minister authorises trial of longer lorries

I have seen 7 tonne trucks go down small back roads before and nearly got run off the road in my car by a 7 tonne lorry down a small back road,Ive seen haulage lorrys also overtake on motorways trying to overtake other haulage lorries but cant, then you get traffic behind being slowed down especially when they do it on a hill,I cauld go on with loads of incidents with heavy vehicles and they have not yet made it law for every lorry to be fitted with these heavy vehicles with sensors for pedestrians or cyclists and now they want longer haulage vehicles,how bout No,its bloody madness we are not america.

Am I missing something or am I just being thick? Longer lorries but not an increase in laden weight? How is that going to reduce the number of lorries on our roads?? By all means, go ahead with these vehicles, but only on motorways and major A roads that can cope with them. Keep them off the minor roads and out of towns that were originally designed to cope with horse drawn carts. Even then, there are major A roads that will be a challenge for these behemoths to navigate - the A17 springs to mind. And I am sure there are other roads that we can think of.

As cyclists we probably have nothing to worry about if they do not stray into our towns, villages and minor roads but then again how will that be policed?

I believe CTC have argued that part of the problem is that many HGVs on UK roads are already running with less than a full load.

The argument for longer lorries was to reduce the number of HGVs on the roads, but this doesn't seem to stack up.

Finally, I cannot see how TEN years can be considered a trial period. After that length of time, the longer HGVs will be a de facto presence on the roads and the whole idea of a 'trial' will be conveniently forgotten..

The UK road network is simply not able to cope with vehicles of this sort. Yes drivers using GPS navigation will end up down twisty country roads, just as they do at present and thse longer vehicles will be even less manouevrable than those used at present. They will pose even greater threats to all other road users as the drivers of these behemoths will be even less able to see others than at present. And the daners of foreign registered trucks, particularly those from eastern Europe, will be exacerbated. Whoever thinks this is a good idea clearly does not have a grip on road safety.

I don't know why I even bother to pretend to be shocked or upset by this sort of thing any more.

Agree with Alg. Safety aside, who apart from the haulage companies could think this was a good idea? Heavier, noisier, less manoeuvrable, more polluting - just what we don't want in overcrowded towns and peaceful villages.

It would only have merit as part of a realistic strategy for reducing the overall number of lorries on the roads.

Cycles, pedestrians, motorcycles, small cars are all at increased risk - an already calculated risk which seems to allow ministers to say its ok to kill more people. This unacceptable anywhere. Aside from cycling matters there is no argument for bigger lorries - British roads cannot cope with the huge things we have now.