Will France soon see 60 tonne trucks?

Publication date: 25 May 2009

France is now also planning trials with mega trucks. This was announced on March 25 to the French road lobby by Dominique Bussereau, a secretary of state at the transport ministry. Within five days, he convened a working group at the transport ministry to prepare trials of the ‘concept d'ensembles routiers’ or the ‘méga-camions’, as Gigaliners are called in French. The trials are due to take place in the autumn of 2009, but how long they will last and what routes the trials will take are still unclear. However, this much is known: there will be no limits on the maximum permissible weight. In other words – there will be 60 tonne trucks on French roads.

France Nature Environnement (FNE), the largest environmental organisation in France and a supporter of the NO MEGA TRUCKS campaign, has sounded a warning. “Méga-camions are not only dangerous for road safety, they also completely contradict the Grenelle de l’environnement in the transport sector”, the new and ambitious French environmental policies introduced by President Sarkozy in October 2007.

Source: No Mega Trucks