Abnormal Loads and Lane closures
Discussion
Travelling downn the A34 Southbound last Thursday afternoon between the A303 and M3 Junctions.Joined a long queue of cars behind a abnormal losd escorted by two private escort vans which were effectivly closing the road by occupying both lanes behind the loads. Is this legal, surely only the Police can do this and loads of this size should only travel at quiet time ie at night. Comments please
I was wondering this as a huge wide load made its way verrrrry slowly from Hull docks to the M62 on a weekday afternoon. Escort vehicle ensured that both lanes of the dual carriageway remained blocked all the way along the A63 until the point where it becomes the 3-lane M62. Cue miles of pissed-off cars/vans/lorries waiting to get past.
Now obviously these things have to be transported somehow. BUT - why oh why does it have to be moved during the busy part of the day, on a road which is congested anyway? Surely these things can be planned better, the wagon could park up at the docks until the evening, that kind of thing.
Obviously from the transport company's perspective they don't want to be paying the drivers' wages for such downtime. But why should hundreds/thousands of others have an extra half an hour or so of travelling time imposed upon them just to save said haulier a few hundred quid?
I'd have thought there would be some legislation in this regard, but either it doesn't exist or (most likely) it's very lax.
Now obviously these things have to be transported somehow. BUT - why oh why does it have to be moved during the busy part of the day, on a road which is congested anyway? Surely these things can be planned better, the wagon could park up at the docks until the evening, that kind of thing.
Obviously from the transport company's perspective they don't want to be paying the drivers' wages for such downtime. But why should hundreds/thousands of others have an extra half an hour or so of travelling time imposed upon them just to save said haulier a few hundred quid?
I'd have thought there would be some legislation in this regard, but either it doesn't exist or (most likely) it's very lax.
stuartdenton said:
surely only the Police can do this and loads of this size should only travel at quiet time ie at night. Comments please
I'm afraid you are out of date. The police no longer carry out escort duties. Large loads are now simply required to have an appropriate escort vehicle organised by the owner.Full details on this link,
http://www.tayside.police.uk/Downloads/abnormal+lo...
Ozzie Osmond said:
stuartdenton said:
surely only the Police can do this and loads of this size should only travel at quiet time ie at night. Comments please
I'm afraid you are out of date. The police no longer carry out escort duties. Large loads are now simply required to have an appropriate escort vehicle organised by the owner.Full details on this link,
http://www.tayside.police.uk/Downloads/abnormal+lo...
ChemicalChaos said:
Ozzie Osmond said:
stuartdenton said:
surely only the Police can do this and loads of this size should only travel at quiet time ie at night. Comments please
I'm afraid you are out of date. The police no longer carry out escort duties. Large loads are now simply required to have an appropriate escort vehicle organised by the owner.Full details on this link,
http://www.tayside.police.uk/Downloads/abnormal+lo...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mersey_Tunnels_Police
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2884525.stm
The police are still notified of the load prior to it's movement and kept informed as it moves through each force area. It is possible for a movement request to be denied or for a police escort to be deemed necessary.
Hauliers can use a system called ESDAL to work out who has to be notified and when for a given abnormal load.
Hauliers can use a system called ESDAL to work out who has to be notified and when for a given abnormal load.
I followed an abnormal load with an escort van for about 20-30 miles down the A1 once, in the middle of the day. It blocked the whole DC, but not a major issue as it was rolling along at a decent lick. The impatience of drivers behind was ridiculous though. I was in the second row of cars back and some woman decided she just had to undertake and get in front of me. Then some knob did the same a bit later, then proceeded to exit a junction or so later.
The country spends million on road improvements to keep the traffic moving yet a heavy load moving in the middle of the day can cause all this disruption. Road repairs are often carried out overnight to avoid disruption so why not the movement of abnormal loads. Failing this why not insist that these loads pull into a suitable rest area every say 15 miles to let queuing traffic get past
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