Oversize Trucks: Dangers Confirmed 26/03/07

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A study carried out by K+P Transport Consultants on behalf of the German Ministry of Transport broadly confirms the disastrous environmental effects that would result from a general authorisation for oversize trucks on European roads, as had been established by the study carried out last September by TIM Consult, Kombiverkehr and the UIRR.

The matter under scrutiny is the potential return to the road of traffic that now uses the more economic and environmentally-friendly combination of road and rail. On that account, the increased number of road journeys carried out by trucks, albeit at reduced unit cost, would result in a considerable increase in CO2 emissions, which would run counter to both the desire of the authorities and the expectations of the general population, both of which want to benefit from methods of transport that cause less pollution.

In a letter that it has just sent jointly with the CER, UIP and UNIFE to the vice-president of the European Commission, Mr Jacques Barrot, the UIRR reiterates its uneasiness about campaigns in favour of these longer and heavier road vehicles and urges the Commission, at the same time as the study it intends to carry out to evaluate all the consequences of using such vehicles (among other things in terms of road safety and infrastructural inadequacies), to do everything possible to progress towards a higher-quality rail sector, among other things by providing the freight clientele with an infrastructure which would by priority be dedicated to them.

Related documents
Press release - 26.03.2007 DE EN FR
Article Verkehrsrundschau - July 2007 DE
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