Opinion : Should lorries be banned from the motorways?

It’s a rare occasion that you will find my good self venturing onto the motorway.

With cars racing by well over the speed limit and drivers swerving from lane to lane the motorways, especially the M40, are far too dangerous for me.

However the other day I went out for a trip with a friend to a nearby town and my friend decided to use the motorway to get us there quickly.

After negotiating the roadworks in the Cressex area, which took ages, finally we found ourselves on the slip road leading to the M40.

By George! The drivers were even racing down the slip road to get onto the motorway at break neck speeds. Most dangerous indeed!

A few moments later we were cruising down the motorway at a death defying 70mph. Why people need to travel so fast I will never know, it’s far better to go at 30mph so there is more time to enjoy the view out of the window as you motor along.

Eventually we closed in on a gaggle of slow moving lorries. To my amazement the lorry at the back decided to pull out to overtake the lorries in front.

Of course the manoeuvre was futile. The lorry was too big and cumbersome to overtake anything let along another lorry.

For several minutes the lorry occupied the second lane of the motorway before falling back into place like a naughty schoolboy who had been caught scrumping apples.

A long snake of cars had built up behind the lorry during the failed overtaking, no doubt there were many angry drivers whose blood pressure was increased by the stupid actions of the lorry driver who thought he could pass another lorry.

This leads me to ask the question : Should lorries be banned from the motorways?

Well, they should certainly be banned from overtaking that’s for sure.

However I think things should go further and lorries should be banned from all motorways between peak hours to allow cars and smaller vans to get to their destinations faster.

The lorries could easily move their goods by night opening up the carriageways of the motorways to ordinary motorists so people can get to the places they want to go quicker.

Most heavy goods vehicles are owned by companies however the cars are mainly owned by private individuals. Everyone is supposed to pay road tax so surely the ordinary motorists should have preference over the faceless companies who are exploiting the motorways for their own profit?

I think it’s time the rules of the road were changed in favour of the private motorist so ordinary people have priority over the profiteering haulage companies.

What do you think?

*My next blog will be published on Tuesday evening around 8pm here on the WycombeToday.com website.

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