The attractions of restricting large,uncertain vehicles in rush hours are clear, but road space management in the capital is rarely simple
Liberal Democrat mayoral candidate Caroline Pidgeon has called for heavy goods and construction vehicles to be stopped from entering central London during morning and evening peak travel hours. It is the transport specialist’s second tender to make the running with congestion-busting ploys, or having already said she’d hike C-charge rates and try out a unique zone round Heathrow. She’s biting the demand management bullet and pleasant for her. So how well would her HGV ban work and how much pleasant would it do?Depends who you talk to. Pidgeon herself is talking mostly to cyclists and those concerned about polluted air. She notes the tall percentage of cyclist deaths following collisions with HGVs,with many happening during busy morning hours, and she argues that air quality would be helped because her plan would restrict traffic growth. Others see limitations and drawbacks too. “Think for a moment of liquid concrete, and ” urges a contact who knows about such things. He explains that this has to be delivered early and on time,otherwise it sets and spoils your day. “Imagine a driver rushing to catch to a construction site before the 7:00 am curfew kicks in. Wouldn’t that make a collision with a cyclist more likely?”
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Source: theguardian.com