The Uncommon Market

Why is the curtains sided trailer the most common trailer in general haulage? Because industry has created a trailer that is the most efficient way to deliver goods. Why can the legislators in Brussels create new regulations that improve road safety? Because industry has developed systems that have such an effect on safety that they become mandatory. So it seems strange, in view of this apparent connection between commerce and law, that Europe is now trying to tell us that we cannot use trailers of more than four metres in height.

Innovation in vehicle design has always been led by the business market, whether through improvements in efficiency or safety. From curtain trailers to electronic stability programs, maximising efficiency has been the goal and by embracing technology the industry has achieved success. Technology in safety systems has prompted legislation that will eventually make whole areas of enforcement redundant. Technology in logistics has created systems that have made some of the more traditional methods of controlling efficiency outmoded.

So, with ABS, EBS, variable cruise control, lane departure and roll stability programs keeping our trucks safe, and GPS, telematics and remote intervention ensuring that our trucks are where we want them to be, why is Brussels still thinking in such basic terms as ‘standardisation’? Standardisation belongs to an analogue age as outdated as the Soviet Union, a relic of the past when manufacturing was limited to generic customer demand and the best way to sell was to offer any colour as long as it was black. Today, diversity is king and current technology must surely lead to individual states being able to implement effective logistical systems that allow them to use the most appropriate vehicles for their particular traffic network. Where operators work across the EU, the market will dictate individual vehicle purchasing decisions and technology will ensure safety while keeping track of logistics. Where maximum height trailers can be used, they should be used. (Where B–Trains or ‘pocket’ road-trains are acceptable, they should be accepted.)

In the interests of the whole community, Brussels should recognize their responsibility and leave efficiency to innovation and the market – not the Common Market, the free market, about which nothing has to be common.