42 | AUGUST 2018
Motoring
Read online at www.proinstaller.co.uk
MOTORWAY
SAFETY FEARS AS
LORRY TRAFFIC
HITS RECORD HIGH
The amount of freight being
transported on our motorways
is making drivers fear for their
safety, a new survey of over 1,000
drivers for Brake has found [1].
The findings come as the Gov-
ernment publishes figures which
show that lorry traffic on motor-
ways has increased more than 15%
in five years, reaching a record
high of 7.9 billion vehicle miles in
2017 [2].
More than three-quarters of
drivers stated that too much
freight is being transported on our
motorways and have called for fur-
ther investment in railways to alle-
viate the pressure on the network.
Shockingly, more than a quarter of
drivers thought it highly likely or
likely that they would be involved
in a fatal or serious crash on a
motorway or dual carriageway at
some point in the future. These
findings come as the Government
is introducing truck platooning
trials and all-lane running on our
motorways, leading road safety
campaigners to decry the prioriti-
sation of capacity over safety.
The Brake survey found that
a significant majority of drivers,
77%, believe that truck platooning
“sounds frightening”, even after
having the nature of the technology
explained to them, and that “if it
went wrong the casualties could be
very high.” Drivers also expressed
if it went wrong
‘ the
casualties
’
could be very high
doubt over all-lane running, as
when asked if using the hard shoul-
der as a driving lane would improve
safety, only a third agreed.
The Government’s “Road Traffic
Estimates: Great Britain 2017”, pub-
lished last week (5 July), shows that
lorry traffic on motorways reached a
new peak of 7.9 billion vehicle miles
in 2017. The size and weight of
lorries is also increasing - traffic of
lorries with four or more axles was
44% higher in 2017 than in 1997,
whereas for lorries with less than
four axles it had fallen by 27%.
Our Strategic Road Network - PT.
2: Smart roads: put safety first”.
Road Traffic Estimates, Great
Britain 2017
Free Servicing on all Volkswagen
Commercial Vehicles
Returns for the Summer
The Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles free service
offer is back by popular demand on all new vans
bought before the end of September 2018.
Two free services are once again
available across the range after Volkswagen
Commercial Vehicles’ figures showed the
offer, introduced last year, appealed to 79
per cent of SMEs.
The package is offered with all Caddy,
Transporter, Crafter and Amarok models, in-
cluding Transporter-based derivatives such
as the Caravelle people carrier and Califor-
nia campervan, purchased from now until
the end of September 2018.
The offer includes one interim and one
full service, which can cover customers
across two years and 20,000 miles of rou-
tine servicing.
Vehicle downtime remains one of the
most challenging jobs for fleet managers.
The free service offer gives fleets the
ability to plan and schedule services in
advance, visit Van Centres with extended
opening hours and receive automatic re-
GEM warns Government against
scrapping the MoT test
ROAD SAFETY and breakdown or-
minders when services are due. By keeping
up to date on routine maintenance and
servicing, vans can be kept on the road and
running reliably for longer.
www.volkswagen-vans.co.uk
ganisation GEM Motoring Assist says any
move to do away with the MoT test would
lead to a rise in deaths and serious injuries
on the roads of the UK.
Responding to a call from the Adam
Smith Institute for the MoT to be scrapped,
GEM road safety officer Neil Worth said:
“Removing the requirement for drivers to
ensure their vehicles are checked annually
would be a massive backward step for road
safety. This would lead to a significant rise
in vehicles on our roads with all kinds of
dangerous defects that would only become
apparent after a collision.
“GEM has long campaigned for driver edu-
cation to lead the way in reducing death and
serious injury on the roads, but any approach
to road safety has to be joined up. There is no
‘silver bullet’ to eliminate crashes, so the idea
of focusing solely on driver error, as proposed
by the Adam Smith Institute, is misguided”.
Follow GEM on Twitter @MotoringAssist
for the latest industry news.