Effective road and traffic management

Written evidence from the Road Haulage Association (RHA) (ETM 31)

Summary of main points

· Encourage night deliveries of freight

· Scrap out-dated London "lorry ban" scheme

· Make greater use of under used M6 Toll road

· Greater emphasis on 24-hour working on road maintenance and co-ordination of road works between the Highways Agency and local authorities

· "Freight buses" – ie. trucks, should have greater access to priority lanes

· Police should show greater urgency in opening roads after crashes and have better co-ordination with recovery operators

Introduction

1. The Road Haulage Association (RHA) is the trade and employers organisation for the hire-or-reward sector of the road haulage industry. The RHA represents some 7,500 companies throughout the UK, with around 100,000 HGVs and with fleet size and driver numbers varying from one through to thousands. Generally, RHA members are entrepreneurs, including many family-owned businesses as well as some plcs. Without the activities of RHA members the UK would come to a halt both socially and economically.

2. In an informal 2008 survey, RHA large members estimated that they had lost around 20% on-road productivity due to congestion. The annual cost of congestion to the UK economy has been estimated at around £20 billion. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/11/01103351/8

3. Our members’ trucks are being caught up in continuing traffic congestion. The negative impact of road congestion is acknowledged in section 7, headed "Managing traffic to reduce carbon emissions and tackle congestion" of the "Creating Growth, Cutting Carbon" White Paper.

Key issue

4. The RHA would assert that in tackling congestion the focus should be on the use of the motor car because most congestion is car related. In 2009 there were 415,000 heavy goods vehicles registered (by tax class). These formed part of the 34.3 million vehicles licensed, most of which were cars. http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/statistics/datatablespublications/vehicles/licensing/vehiclelicensingstatistics2009

Specific issues

5. The Transport Select Committee has called for evidence about how roads and traffic can be better managed in order to reduce congestion, encompassing both the major road network and urban roads. We will address the issues in the order raised by the committee.

The extent to which the Government and local authorities should intervene to alleviate congestion and the best means of doing so

6. Government and local authorities should encourage the adoption of night time deliveries to public and commercial premises. This would allow trucks to deliver at non-peak times, with the advantages of greater road safety, reduced emissions as well as cost and time savings to the truck operator.

7. In London there is the additional complication of the London Lorry Control scheme more commonly called the London lorry ban, which has operated for over 25 years. This scheme has long outlived its usefulness. Most obviously, the completion of the M25 means trucks now go around London, not through it. In addition, trucks are far quieter and far cleaner than they were when the scheme was introduced.

The extent to which road user culture and behavior undermines effective traffic management, including the relevance to today’s road users of the Highway Code.

8. We would welcome a greater focus in the Highway Code on the difference in driving techniques of car and lorry drivers. Such a focus might to some extent help to reduce accidents involving HGVs which in turn can lead to congestion. The RHA’s view is that many motorists and some cyclists are unaware of how HGV drivers have to manoeuvre vehicles at junctions, or of issues like HGV braking distances. Having said this we also accept the need for the haulage industry to work continuously to keep the standards of HGV driving high.

Intelligent traffic management schemes, such as the scheme which has operated on the M42, and their impact on congestion and journey times

9. Managed motorway schemes help to control congestion. Hard-shoulder running in peak flow periods, whilst a temporary solution only, has worked quite well. However we have not yet seen sufficient evidence that through junction running has been successful, as it may impede vehicles trying to join or exit the motorway, thus causing backed-up congestion.

10. The M6 Toll remains a national scandal driving heavy investment in managing traffic on the Highways Agency’s M6. It cannot make sense for the M6 Toll to remain little-used, while the HA road is heavily congested and we urge the government to pump-prime a transfer of trucks to the tolled road.

The effectiveness of legislative provisions for road management under the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 and the Traffic Management Act 2004

11. We urge more night working, and 24 hour working on road maintenance projects to aid quick completion and minimise the economic and environmental costs of congestion. We are concerned that budget cuts may be making this macro-efficient approach less likely.

12. We urge that prior notice be given of major road works on a consistent basis. The RHA has on several occasions managed to persuade roads authorities to rethink work patterns, road closures and diversions. Greater co-operation between the Highways Agency and local authorities is needed. The positioning of works inevitably diverts traffic onto other parts of the network, leading to more congestion if the secondary routes are unsuitable. The RHA would like to see measures adopted in a co-ordinated manner, such as the alteration of traffic light phasing, that could assist the flow of diverted traffic.

The impact of bus lanes and other aspects of road layout

13. Trucks should have greater access to priority lanes, by considering them as buses for freight – or freight buses. The RHA has coined the term to support a more progressive approach to trucks in and around urban areas - in particular, to have greater access to priority lane s, such as bus and high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes.

14. The RHA has had some success promoting freight bus schemes – for example, South Gloucestershire’s Statement of Reasons for allowing trucks above 7.5 tonnes into the HOV lane on a stretch of the A4147 near Bristol specifically gave the RHA ’s freight buses argument as the rationale for the change. H auliers’ trucks have to be on the roads to serve cus tomers, and will have a minimal impact on the HOV lanes and the trucks’ increased efficiency will save carbon.

15. The RHA would argue further that t rucks are in reality more efficient than buses because they only have to run when there is demand and they can vary their route to make sure they maximise loading. Also, there is no alternative to a truck in making deliveries to shops and industrial estates.

Other issues related to congestion

16. The role of the police in managing and clearing accidents - different strategies used by police in different areas in handling accident sites can affect congestion significantly, particularly if roads are kept closed for long periods. We would urge that the policy is re-examined. Accidents are cleared too slowly in many cases, leading to severe tail backs.

17. Recovery operators – a number of which the RHA has in membership – could be better used by police forces. At present, the picture is patchy. Hampshire police work closely with their contracted recovery operator to ensure that the accident site is cleared up as soon as possible. Other police areas do not co-ordinate as well. We would welcome the dissemination of good practice nationally.

18. Positioning of road signs is also important - A piece of work currently being undertaken on the causation of bridge strikes has revealed that often the signs are in the wrong place or the bridge is signed incorrectly giving insufficient notice for the driver to divert causing massive disruption whilst the driver tries to turn the vehicle round or worse gets stuck.

Conclusion

19. We do not believe there is a magic bullet solution to congestion but would suggest that a positive impact could be made if government and local authorities used the planning regime to facilitate change, perhaps by encouraging people to live closer to areas of work such as city centres.

20. However any successful planning based solution would have to be well worked through, for example because for those with children provision of affordable accommodation close to work would have to be balanced by the availability of good accessible schooling and other amenities. For people in rural areas motor transport might be the only practical means of gaining access to work and amenities and so initiatives to discourage road use might not have the intended effects - as an example, the RHA has anecdotal reports of increase thefts of fuel in rural areas as the high fuel price has increased the cost of motoring.

21. Crucially we see a tension between any desire for efficient strategic planning and the current localism agenda pursued by the Coalition government.

February 2011