The facts about mega trucks

Longer and heavier trucks (LHVs) are known by several harmless sounding names – Gigaliner, EuroCombi, EcoLiner, innovative commercial vehicle. A lot of names that all have just one purpose: increasing the permitted dimensions and weight of heavy goods vehicles right across the European Union.

Longer and heavier vehicles are a danger to the safety of all road users. LHVs will damage the environment because they will lead to more truck journeys. And they will cost taxpayers billions of euros because Europe's roads were not designed for such monsters. In short: mega trucks are dangerous, …

Longer and heavier vehicles (LHVs) have been permitted in Finland and Sweden for some time. But Scandinavia's spacious, relatively sparsely populated regions with little road traffic cannot be compared with the rest of Europe, where the dense networks of heavily used roads are not suitable for mega trucks.

The conclusions of several independent scientific studies could not be clearer: Gigaliners would not be a contribution towards sustainable transport. Gigaliners are entirely contrary to the goals of more traffic safety and more environmental protection. They are the very opposite.

Certain EU states such as the UK, Austria and Switzerland have already come out clearly against longer and heavier trucks; other countries are in favour, for example the Netherlands and Denmark. But the final decision will be taken in Brussels – and if mega trucks are given the green light on a European …

Europe does not need longer and heavier trucks. Europe needs more freight on the railways. Why? Because the railways are safer, more environmentally friendly and offer better performance.