Swiss parliament enacts law against mega trucks

5 Jan 2011. The maximum length of heavy goods vehicles in Switzerland has now been limited by law to 18.75 meters. This was decided by the Swiss parliament in Bern on December 15th. The Council of States already agreed to the bill in September. A possible admission of mega trucks in the Alps country would now require a popular vote by the Swiss people. This was an essential demand by the cantons and the Swiss No Mega Trucks alliance which unites environmental and traffic organisations.

The outcome of a referendum on the admission of mega trucks is not hard to predict. A representative opinion poll in November 2009 showed that 80 percent of Swiss people object the admission of mega trucks. Similar results were shown by other representative polls in Europe (France 81 percent against, United Kingdom 75 percent, Germany 73 percent).

“We do not want any mega trucks because they are dangerous for other road users, they are costly for the road infrastructure and endager the shift of goods to the railways in Europe and also here in Switzerland”, said Fabio Pedrina, commission spokesman in the Swiss parliament and president of the Alpine Initiative.

Furthermore a new study by the Swiss No Mega Trucks alliance concludes that 1.5 billion franc (approx. 1 billion Euro) have to be invested annually during the next 15 years - in addition to already planned maintenance costs.

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