1) Why not implement a no HGV overtaking ban along the length of the A34?
"Most people aren't aware that HGVs are restricted by European law to a maximum of 90kmh (56mph), though actual speed varies and some companies choose to set the limiters lower for reasons of fuel consumption. I.e tesco.
If you set a ban on overtaking you will create long convoys of lorries bumper to bumper all travelling at the speed of the slowest lorry at the front.
Also a ban would be ignored as there is no manpower to enforce it. There is already a ban on HGV overtaking on the Ilsey hills northbound and it is mostly ignored.
The appropriate behaviour for HGV drivers is to cruise at a speed below the set limit, i.e 52mph, so when they come to a slower moving HGV they have something in reserve to allow a swift overtake. The reality of this is that most HGV drivers will never do this as they feel 'every second counts'. All deliveries are tightly timed in this modern age. The polite technique that should be enforced is that the slower lorry has a part to play and should be compelled to slow down to expedite the overtake, but this rarely happens and therefore compounds the congestion problem. So the whole manouvre may take several miles by which time a large queue has developed and phantom traffic jams ricochet down the road."
- Tom Reddy
"The major reason why a HGV overtaking ban wouldn't work is because of the frequency and poor design of the sliproads. If you have an overtaking ban, then you will have large convoys of lorries all moving at the speed of the slowest one. This means you will have very little space for vehicles to enter and exit the road. If sliproads are well spread out, and have long lead-ins and lead-outs, then its not a huge problem, providing the other vehicles use them correctly and adjust their speed accordingly. However, when you have less than 100 metres for a vehicle to go from standstill to 50/60 mph, you will end up with regular collisions with cars getting caught in the blind corner of trucks, and vehicles leaving divebombing the junction from lane 2."
- Gary Cavie
2) Why change the design of the road when most of the issues are associated with poor driving and driver attitude?
"The A34 was never designed for the volume of traffic it now carries. It is a motorway in all but infrastructure, so we can go on denying this fact as long as we wish.
Training and driver attitude is a key component, but the licencing system is what it is, advanced training is optional and there are no police to enforce the rules of the road as they stand, nothing changes, and so it all comes down to money and the fact that there is none.
Driver attitudes and aptitude will not change on its own, human beings always take the path of least resistance."
- Tom Reddy