Courier drivers 'will be forced to slow down on motorways'
Date: 06 November 2007
Courier Exchange provides the latest Courier News online for its readers in a newsfeed updated daily. Courier Exchange is the answer for owner drivers and courier companies wanting up to the minute transport news, stories and articles.
Next year, couriers driving commercial vehicles (CVs) with loads of between 3.5 and 7.5 tonnes will be forced to drive more slowly on UK motorways.
Website roadtransport.com reports that a European Commission Directive, due to come into force in the UK in January 2008, will set the motorway speed limit for couriers and others driving light commercial vehicles at 56 mph.
According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, the move will affect 226,022 professional drivers. It told the website that couriers which use light CVs for same-day or next-day deliveries will have to change their delivery patterns to account for the lower speed.
The Freight Transport Association (FTA) told the site that some courier companies might inadvertently break the new law.
"We may also be getting into those categories of vehicles where operators don't even realise they need limiters," the FTA explained.
"The issue last year was that operators were having trouble fitting limiters by the due date and that's the warning we should perhaps issue now: the situation is cut and dried and if your vehicle needs retrofitting it is better to do it now than wait until December 31st."
Recently, courier drivers welcomed news that the number of speed camera fines dropped by 40,000 during the year. Groups which represented the transport industry said that the decline showed that police had realised that driving fast was not necessarily dangerous.
For the latest in courier and transport news, please visit Courier Exchange's Online Courier News Homepage.
User Comments
No Comments