Madam, - What does the rescinding of a (very low) 7.5- tonne weight limit for heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) on one stretch of dual-carriageway in Austria have to do with whether so-called supertrucks should be permitted in Ireland (Editorial, November 22nd)? Multi-lane roads with median separation are obviously most suitable for HGVs, so it is not surprising that this particular ban was challenged as being over-zealous.
It is common practice throughout Europe to exclude various categories of HGV from city and town centres, residential suburbs, villages and small rural roads, either permanently or at certain times. This is done by erecting signs indicating the maximum size of vehicle permitted, and in some cases by physical barriers such as height restrictors. This reflects the need to balance the quick and cost-effective transportation of goods with other concerns, primarily physical safety and noise nuisance. The emphasis is on exclusion with access permitted only when and where necessary.
If Ireland pursued a similar policy there should be no difficulty with allowing supertrucks. However our policy, if any exists, appears to favour universal access with restrictions very much the exception. The authorities evidently have little or no interest in enforcing the few limits that exist, and of those many are ill-conceived.
For instance, in Dublin there are a number of "3t" weight limit areas. If "3t" refers to metric tonnes, which is the norm, even standard Transit-type panel vans are excluded, so understandably the signs are ignored, and by larger vehicles as well.
When the Port Dublin Tunnel opens, only trucks with five or more axles will be obliged to use it. Many full-length articulated trucks have only four axles and will continue to grind through the city centre to avoid the toll. In addition, the tunnel's charges for private vehicles are prohibitive, so the interests of the ordinary taxpayer who funded it have not been served in any obvious way.
Many otherwise pleasant areas in town and country are blighted by the noise and dangerous physical bulk of trucks driving on the kind of roads from which in most countries they would be banned. If a more active policy of exclusion of HGVs were in some instances to lead to a slight increase in the unit cost of goods being transported, because of longer journeys or the need to transfer loads to smaller vehicles, that seems a small price to pay for addressing the valid concerns of residents, workers, pedestrians, cyclists and private motorists.
Hauliers and their families fit into all of those categories too. - Yours, etc,
CHARLES BAGWELL, Millbrook, Straffan, Co Kildare.
Madam, - While the European Court of Justice intervention in an Austrian ban on supertrucks is a deplorable example of eurocentrism at its most meddling, Austria's position at the hub of the European landmass is an understandable consideration.
Ireland, on the other hand is a terminus, not a hub. We are not impeding the transcontinental movement of goods by insisting that only vehicles appropriate to the scale of our landscape and roads be allowed on this island.
The de facto alternative to a ban on supertrucks is the prospect of these behemoths rumbling through Dublin city streets, with the inevitable pollution, congestion and deaths that will follow.
Let us for once suppress our native urge to toe the European line - and let anyone who lobbies for supertrucks in Dublin city centre be willing to live with blood on their hands if the giants win through. - Yours, etc,
TONY MULQUEEN, Aughrim, Co Wicklow.