Longer, heavier vehicles go global, without the UK

摘要

While the UK's transport secretary apparently remains unable even to make up her mind about on-road trials of longer and heavier trucks, other countries are legitimising them. And the whole subject of matching vehicle weights and dimensions to loads is under worldwide scrutiny as pressure intensifies for freight transport to save energy in a global economy. Progress towards a global consensus on the sort of trucks needed by modern commerce was reported last month in Paris at a four-day international conference on heavy vehicles. An international working party, funded by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), plans to publish its recommendations by September 2009.