M42: Lorries

Mr. Greg Knight
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the findings were of the trial of heavy goods vehicle overtaking restrictions on the M42; what assessment he has made of those findings; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Clark
The trial overtaking restriction for HGVs introduced on the M42 between junctions 10 and 11 has shown that light vehicle journey times have reduced and that HGV journey times remained unchanged in the morning peak but decreased at other times. The proportion of HGVs using lane 2 has reduced significantly.

Although the results of the trial have not offered dramatic journey time savings, the Government believe that it would be beneficial to make the M42 restriction permanent as a useful tool in helping the Highways Agency to meet journey time reliability targets.