Longer rather than wider

[Surfer]

I was referring to heavy goods vehicle traffic in the UK in general, not only that of foreign vehicles using UK roads. As by no means all countries allow 44 tonners, the majority of those vehicles coming to the UK will be 40 tonnes or less. The proportion of foreign five axled 44 tonners in the total UK traffic volume must therefore be insignificant and can hardly make any difference to damage to the road surface.
The maximum axle load permitted in the UK is 10 tonnes and this applies to all vehicles, whether UK or foreign registered. Hence, the road construction should be suitable for such axle loads.

The UK government spent a fortune upgrading a load of bridges a few years ago to accommodate these 44 ton trucks. I think the general consensus is that the government always take the cheapest quote which is why the roads are in such bad condition and why motorways need resurfacing nealry every year.
If you have almost lost a caravan because of these tramline ruts you will know exactly what I am on about!

 

[Lutz]

The UK government spent a fortune upgrading a load of bridges a few years ago to accommodate these 44 ton trucks. I think the general consensus is that the government always take the cheapest quote which is why the roads are in such bad condition and why motorways need resurfacing nealry every year.
If you have almost lost a caravan because of these tramline ruts you will know exactly what I am on about!

One cannot hold foreign trucks responsible for the damage as 44 tonners are legal in the UK, too, albeit with six axles, so if bridges had to be upgraded, then this would have been necessary anyway to accommodate UK 44 tonners. Whether the authorities responsible have skimped in any way in the process of this upgrading is quite another issue.
I still maintain that 44 tonners are not the root cause of the problem but the inability to adapt road conditions to suit the 10 tonne per axle limit. Lots of smaller lorries could be doing a lot more damage than a few 44 tonners.

 

[ProfAlGoogle]

Lutz, go and stand on any UK motorway bridge and observe the HGV traffic, the vast majority will be running @ 44tons on UK six axles or continental five axle, two axle rigids @ 18tons being in the minority.

The law in the UK is also changing over the next four years, and we will see a lot more foreign trucks on our roads doing internal work, but I digress from my original reply as I was merely pointing out an inaccuracy in prof Johns reply.

 

[Lutz]

I only used two axled 18 tonners as an example of vehicles with higher axle loads than five or six axled 44 tonners. One could also include 26 tonne lorries with three axles or 36 tonne outfits on four axles.

 

[ProfAlGoogle]

Or we could include German artics running at 11.5 tonns per axle, France at 13 tonns, Belgium at 12 tonns, all far greater than the 10.5 tonn UK limit that is the lowest of all european countrys, but what does it have to do with my correction of Proff Johns error?

 

[Lutz]

I don't know where you got those axle loads from, Cookieones, but my information is that 10 tonnes per load bearing axle and 11.5 per driven axle is the norm throughout Europe with the exception of Italy. It certainly applies here in Germany.

 

[ProfAlGoogle]

I don't know where you got those axle loads from, Cookieones, but my information is that 10 tonnes per load bearing axle and 11.5 per driven axle is the norm throughout Europe with the exception of Italy. It certainly applies here in Germany.

Not quite correct Lutz, Italy runs @ 12 tonns driven and load axle, France at 13 tonns both driven and load, and I stand correcting on Germany, but what relevance does this have on my reply to proff John regarding the number of axles that he had quoted incorrectly and has admitted to getting wrong and you?

 

[Lutz]

Obviously, your source of information differs to mine (www.internationaltransportforum.org) which agrees, by the way, with German regulations, but be that as it may, all 44 tonners, no matter whether five or six axled, are well within the 10 tonne per axle limit that also applies in the UK. Hence, if all roads were designed to cope with that axle load, there shouldn't be a problem.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Now boy's stop squabbling!

I'm really sorry if my post has caused this little rumpus, the point was that Ray had made a very damming post laying the entire blame for the poor road surfaces on the admission of forigen trucks to our roads. This is clearly not the case. They may contribute to the problem but there are still far more UK vehicles (Trucks vans, car and even caravans) that use these roads and they ALL contribute to the wear of the surfaces.

 

[ProfAlGoogle]

Head and wall spring to mind here Lutz, my reply was to prof John who politely acknowledged his simple mistake, I don't understand the relevance of your continued posts, end of.

 

[Lutz]

Thanks, Prof. That was all I was trying to get across, too. Perhaps I was going off on a bit of a tangent after all the blame was being put on foreign registered five axled 44 tonners. The whole issue has little to do with the number of axles, but more about the sheer volume of heavy traffic in general.

 

[ProfAlGoogle]

Thanks, Prof. That was all I was trying to get across, too. Perhaps I was going off on a bit of a tangent after all the blame was being put on foreign registered five axled 44 tonners. The whole issue has little to do with the number of axles, but more about the sheer volume of heavy traffic in general.

Back pedlling now Lutz? Ps, also check the web site where you obtained your information
and you will clearly see French artics have 13t axle weight, quote: I don't know where you have got your information from cookieones,but it is not the same as mine!

 

[Lutz]

Back pedlling now Lutz? Ps, also check the web site where you obtained your information
and you will clearly see French artics have 13t axle weight, quote: I don't know where you have got your information from cookieones,but it is not the same as mine!

OK. I overlooked France. It's France, Italy and the Ukraine then that are the only exceptions

All other countires specify the same as the UK.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Now look lads, if you don't stop you'll be sent to bed with no supper or hot water bottle!

 

[ProfAlGoogle]

Quite agree John, getting silly now, all I was doing was pointing out the slight error that you had made nothing more nothing less