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Ministry bids to ban trucks

Towns and truckers say weekend ban is harmful to all involved

By Markéta Hulpachová
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
August 22nd, 2007 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
Mikulov police have faced off with truckers, whom they say are costing the town substantial resources.
The south Moravian town of Mikulov is suffering from a truck invasion.
Each Friday afternoon, the tiny, picturesque town near the Austrian border becomes a rest stop for hundreds of drivers forced to pull their vehicles off the road by a law banning trucks from traveling on major highways during summer weekends.
In an effort to curb weekend traffic, the Transportation Ministry wants to extend the law to be valid all year, evoking protests from truck driver unions and small towns, which say the country lacks the infrastructure to warrant the provision.
“Truckers are parking wherever they can, and our town does not have the means to accommodate them,” says Mikulov Mayor Rostislav Koštial.
The presence of truckers is an eyesore for Mikulov town officials. According to Koštial, the presence of trucks discourages tourists from visiting, partly because the illegally parked vehicles take up the spaces designated for passenger cars and tour buses.
“The truckers do not bring anything positive to the community. They litter, they get drunk, they relieve themselves on the side of the road,” says Jiří Hamerník, Mikulov’s chief of police.
Cleaning up after the truckers is costing the town substantial resources. “Instead of being able to focus on the safety of locals and tourists, the police have to deal with truckers,” Koštial says.
Due to Mikulov’s proximity to the border, freight traffic is a year-round concern, but since the ministry ban came into effect July 1, the tensions between truckers and town officials has escalated to physical altercations. “We’ve recently had several bloody rows with them,” Hamerník says.
Effective from July 1 to Aug. 31, the law prohibits vehicles over 7.5 metric tons (8.3 short tons) from traveling on state highways during Friday, Saturday, Sunday and holiday peak traffic hours.
While a more lenient law regulating Saturday and Sunday travel existed previously, in 2005 the government extended the ban to Fridays in an effort to lower the high rate of weekend car accidents.
“Compared to other weekdays, the amount of all accidents increases significantly on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays,” says Transportation Ministry spokesman Karel Hanzelka.
“Eliminating one type of transport will ensure safer traveling,” he adds. “We’re not alleging the accidents are mainly caused by cargo vehicles.”
To lower the rate of weekend accidents, the Green Party is advocating a year-round weekend ban to apply to all roads.
“Otherwise, truckers would avoid the highways by traveling on local roads, which would only increase the traffic concerns of the small towns they intersect,” says Green Party spokeswoman Eva Rolečková.
The Transportation Ministry supports this view. “A year-round extension of the weekend truck transport ban is part of the government’s official agenda,” Hanzelka says.
A nation of cottage-goers
Laws regulating Saturday and Sunday truck traffic are in place in a majority of Central European countries, but the Czech Republic and Poland are the only countries to control Friday traffic.
Trucking companies say the Friday ban causes logistical difficulties. “We have handled the logistics of Saturdays and Sundays, but Friday is still a problem for us,” says automotive transport union Česmad Bohemia spokesman Martin Felix.
On Fridays, trucks bringing goods back into the country are often forced to interrupt their route hours away from their destination. “Nowhere else in Europe has a year-round Friday ban,” Felix says.
The ministry says national traffic is affected by unique circumstances, including the national trend of weekend travel to cottages. “The contrast with foreign countries is not a primary concern for us,” Hanzelka says. “We’re a transient country in the center of Europe. What’s more, we’re a nation of cottage-goers.”
Certain types of cargo, including mail, perishable foods, chemicals and weapons are exempt from the ban, he adds.
Aware that the government is unlikely to repeal the summer ban, trucking companies are fighting to maintain the status quo, Felix says. The inability to travel on weekends will lead truckers to travel more on weekdays, when they will add to traffic that is already increased by workers returning from summer holidays.
“Extending the ban year-round will not only cause economic damage to cargo companies,” Felix says. “It will also harm logistics, interrupt the flow of supplies and increase weekday traffic.”
Aside from voicing logistical concerns, truck drivers say they are disadvantaged by a nationwide lack of parking spaces. “Various studies show the country is short of about 1,400 to 3,000 parking spaces,” Hanzelka says.
In the past, the Transportation Ministry has proposed solving this problem through the construction of roadside depots for short-term parking, or truck centers, but, because they require substantial investments, land sales and building permits, “the construction of truck centers could turn into a lengthy affair,” Hanzelka says. “A rough estimate is that they will be completed by 2010.”
While Felix says truck drivers would welcome the truck depots, he doubts they will ever be realized. “The talk of truck centers has been going on for years. [Former] Transportation Minister [Milan] Šimonovský promised them, but nothing ever happened.”

Markéta Hulpachová can be reached at mhulpachova@praguepost.com


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