The total fleet number will reach 252 vehicles next year after another additional 132 are added as part of a two-year rollout. The gritters meet Euro 6 regulations, ensuring that they have the best current environmental standards for heavy-duty Cl diesel engines. 

With speeds of up to 50mph, the new vehicles are around 10mph faster than previous models, allowing a more efficient approach to road gritting. This year’s vehicles will be delivered to areas of the South and the Midlands.

Duncan Smith, National Highways’ acting executive director of operations, said: “The new vehicles are an impressive sight and this year’s rollout once again demonstrates our commitment to keeping drivers safe throughout the winter months […]

“We want everyone to travel safely on our roads and ask that drivers take extra care near gritters, leave a safe distance, overtake gritters carefully when it is safe to do so and at a reduced speed.

“When the wintry weather arrives our winter teams across the country will be ready to work around the clock to keep traffic moving.”

Including these new vehicles, National Highways now has 535 gritters available for use on our roads. Operating these are 1,300 specially trained gritter drivers. Over 280,000 tonnes of salt is also in storage, ready to be used. 

With all of these measures in place, the government-owned company aims to keep roads as efficient as possible this winter. For more news on travel conditions and the latest road safety news, be sure to keep up to date with the Anglo Liners blog. Alternatively, click here for a free quote.

The organisation leading the study is set to receive a reported £2m, which falls under the £20m allocated to zero-emission road freight trials under the DfT’s plan. Decarbonising lorries will help to build a more environmentally friendly road network across the UK.

Heavy goods vehicles are currently responsible for almost a 5th (18%) of all road CO2 emissions, despite making up just 1.2% of traffic. By 2040, all new diesel and petrol lorries in Britain are due to be banned, meaning a new system is needed to provide alternative power for these large vehicles. 

The ‘e-highway’ will involve the installation of overhead wires on up to 19 miles of the M180. The technology, similar to that which powers trains and trams, will charge a battery that has been fitted into each lorry as it’s being driven. Lorries cannot run on a single charge like electric cars, because they require too much power.

Similar plans have been trialled in Germany and Sweden on a smaller scale. If the study goes ahead, this will be the first large-scale deployment of such technology worldwide. The vehicles and their power cables could be on British roads as early as 2024.

William Wilson, CEO of Siemens Mobility Limited, said: “Investing in proven technologies like e-highways can help us go further and faster to decarbonise the UK’s transport network, and support jobs and growth to level up the country.

“By building on successful trials from other countries like Germany, our ERS consortium M180 trial will help the UK move a step closer to replacing more polluting trucks with clean, efficient electric HGVs.”

To stay up-to-date on the latest UK road safety news, make sure to check our blog each week. For a free road marking quote, head to our website, today.

If a vehicle exceeds the set emission limit, the motorist may be charged (if they choose to drive in one of the set zones). Bath, Birmingham and London are set to launch theirs in March, June and October 2021.

As many as 67 monitoring and enforcement cameras have already been installed by Siemens Mobility in Birmingham city centre. This is in preparation for the zone coming into force in June of this year. The technology used in these Sicore II devices will use automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) and are set to lead the way for this scheme.

10 of England’s local authorities are following directions from the central government to comply with legal limits regarding nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels. These are to be met as soon as possible and by 2024, at the very latest. The new zones come despite the hope that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic may have helped to curb traffic pollution.

In Greater Manchester, plans for a CAZ covering the entire city region are soon to be confirmed by constituent councils. Their goal is to open the zone in the spring of 2022.

Councillor Andrew Western, GMCA Lead for the Green City-Region, said: “We did see a brief, short-term improvement in air quality due to the pandemic, but once the economy opened again, road traffic levels grew quickly, almost reaching pre-pandemic levels by late 2020. 

“So, analysis has shown that the pandemic won’t lead to a big enough long-term reduction in harmful nitrogen dioxide air pollution on our local roads to meet legal limits without a Clean Air Zone”.

While there has been some opposition locally, the Environment Minister, Rebecca Pow, hoped to quell concerns. She stated that “only the most polluting older vehicles are charged in a Clean Air Zone, and it is not a congestion charge”.

Keep up-to-date with the latest road safety news on the Anglo Liners blog, or click here for a free quote.