Private Truck And Tractor

Oxfordshire County Council in the UK has voted on banning lorries overtaking on A34, a 34-mile stretch of road in Oxfordshire and Berkshire.

Proposed by Conservative councillor Patrick Greene, the motion was backed by 51 votes to zero with nine abstentions.

Following the voting, the new rules are said to apply on the A34 between Junction 14 of the M4 and Junction 9 of the M40 and will see the vehicles banned from using the fast lane on the A34.

Data released by Thames Valley Police highlighted that the road witnessed 43 accidents with 63 casualties between September last year and February this year.

The statistics also revealed that eight people were killed on the road.

"This council is concerned and alarmed at the recent number of major traffic accidents that have occurred on the A34 in the Oxfordshire County area in recent months."

According to Greene, he believed that all these problems were caused by heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), which do not follow any speed limit and try to overtake other vehicles creating frustration for the ordinary driver.

Motion from councillor Patrick Greene said: "This council is concerned and alarmed at the recent number of major traffic accidents that have occurred on the A34 in the Oxfordshire County area in recent months that have caused real damage not only to the Oxfordshire economy but to that of the country."

"Much frustration to fast lane vehicles arises when two heavy vehicles are in the process of overtaking and with vehicle governors that may well be slightly at variance causing the overtaking procedure to last much too long."

The council requests to write to the UK Secretary of State for Transport to ask to restrict all HGVs to only use the slow lane between Junction 13 to Junction 9.

Image: Heavy goods vehicles try to overtake other vehicles and do not follow any speed limit. Photo: courtesy of nitinut via FreeDigitalPhotos.net.