§ Mr. Lomasasked the Minister of Transport (1) what is the speed limit for heavy vehicles and articulated vehicles on roads and motorways; and why cars towing caravans are restricted to 40 miles per hour on the motorways;
(2) what speed is permitted on motorways for vehicles towing another vehicle.
Mr. Bob BrownOn general purpose roads various limits apply to heavy vehicles according to their type and equipment. The main limits are:
Heavy goods vehicles (including articulated vehicles) 40 m.p.h. Public service vehicles 50 m.p.h. Other large passenger vehicles 40 m.p.h. Engineering plant 12 m.p.h. Locomotives 20 m.p.h. Tractors 30 m.p.h. (Lower limits apply when trailers are drawn) On motorways the only speed limits, apart from the general 70 m.p.h. limit, are on certain vehicle/trailer combinations ("trailer" being defined as any vehicle drawn by a motor vehicle) viz.:
Public service vehicles drawing a trailer 50 m.p.h. Any other vehicle dawing a trailer with less than 4 wheels or with 4 close-coupled wheels (not being an articulated vehicle) 40 m.p.h. The last mentioned limit, which applies to most types of car-drawn caravan, was imposed because of the risk of instability at high speed, particularly when the combination of vehicles is not well matched.