BREXIT MEANS BETTER TRADE
Summary:
The UK Government introduced new legislation to allow longer lorries on British roads from May 31 2023. The UK had been trialling the use of Long Semi-Trailer (LST) trucks since 2011, finding that they not only make more sense for most hauliers (with limits on physical space being reached long before weight limits), but also reduce both costs and carbon emissions. The UK would not have been able to bring in this win-win change in regulations, without having left the EU.
Explanation:
The UK Government introduced new legislation to allow longer lorries on British roads from May 31 2023. It follows an 11-year trial to ensure they are used safely on roads. Operators are now able to use longer semi-trailer (LST) combinations up to 18.55 metres – 2.05 metres longer than standard size.
The extra length enables them to move the same volume of goods using 8% fewer journeys than current trailers – generating an expected £1.4 billion in economic benefits and taking one standard-size trailer off the road for every 12 trips. Evidence showed that LSTs were involved in around 61% fewer personal injury collisions than conventional lorries.
Vehicles using LSTs are subject to the same 44 tonne weight limit as those using standard trailers, and the new vehicles are expected to cause less wear on the roads than conventional lorries due to the type of steering axle used.
With more than 300 companies in the UK having already taken part in the trial, and almost 3,000 on the road, some of the biggest brands including Greggs, Morrisons, Stobart, Royal Mail, and Argos, will be rolling out the longer semi-trailers.
The average CO2 reduction across the lifetime of the trial is similar to the amount of CO2 captured by roughly 11,600 acres of forest per year, while the savings in NOx emissions averages to the entire annual NOx emissions of around 2,000 diesel cars per year.
The UK would not have been able to bring in this win-win change in regulations, without having left the EU.