FT911-431
_AN-BELAGAEAFT
910511
FT 11 MAY 91 / Rifkind acts on truck speeds
By RICHARD TOMKINS, Transport Correspondent
OLD TRUCKS as well as new ones will be fitted with devices limiting their
speed to the 60mph legal maximum, Mr Malcolm Rifkind, transport secretary,
told the Scottish Conservative party conference in Perth yesterday.
The Department of Transport said retrospective fitting of the devices would
be confined to articulated trucks up to four years old - less than 12 per
cent of the UK heavy goods vehicle fleet.
Yesterday's move follows the announcement in February that all new trucks
were to be fitted with devices to stop them exceeding the 60mph limit on
heavy goods vehicles.
Mr Rifkind said he was extending the requirement because he wanted speed
limiters fitted to a greater proportion of the truck fleet.
Mr Rifkind said many truck drivers were causing danger by flouting speed
limits. Speed limiters would also cut fuel consumption and carbon dioxide
emissions.
Retrospective fitting has been targeted at articulated vehicles because they
are the heaviest and fastest trucks.
The Freight Transport Association criticised the measure. It said most
accidents were caused by error or irresponsible behaviour, not by speeding,
and the Pounds 500 cost of the devices would be incurred without
compensating benefits.
The Department of Transport estimated that the measure would save 26 deaths
and 400 injuries a year.
The Financial Times
London Page 6