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posted by on Thursday May 25 2017, @02:13AM   Printer-friendly
from the obvious dept.

In some businesses like supermarkets and restaurants, local restrictions on nighttime deliveries leave distributors no choice but to dispatch trucks during morning rush hours. But lifting these rules could reduce peak traffic volumes and increase transport efficiency, according to a recent study involving researchers from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

Some communities prohibit heavy trucks from operating during the night. Stockholm is one of them, but the city wanted to test if lifting its ban might yield some benefits in transportation efficiency. Anna Pernestål Brenden, a researcher at KTH's Integrated Transport Research Laboratory, and acoustic, transport efficiency, and policy researchers from the KTH, joined with other partners in a pilot study with the City of Stockholm to see if lifting the 10 to 6 a.m. ban on truck deliveries made sense.

They worked with a national supermarket chain and its suburban Stockholm central warehouse, as well as with a company that supplied food to restaurants and hotels, Pernestål Brenden says.

Ordinarily the supermarket warehouse, which is some 30km north of Stockholm, would deploy several fully-loaded trucks to make deliveries during peak morning rush hours from 6 to 8, because there is no way for one truck to make them all in that short a time span.

But in the study, a single truck delivered goods to three stores in central Stockholm between the prohibited hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. It would return to the warehouse three times in the night to be reloaded, and then make its subsequent delivery, she says. "That's one truck doing the work of three, or in other words – morning commuters are spared having to share the road with three heavy duty trucks."

Though it was a small scale study, Pernestål Brenden says there are strong indications that scaling up off-peak deliveries could increase business efficiency for suppliers and retailers, reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions and perhaps make a positive impact on traffic volume during peak morning hours.

Fewer drivers will clock fewer hours.


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  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday May 25 2017, @02:20PM (1 child)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Thursday May 25 2017, @02:20PM (#515468) Journal

    Ho-hum. First, Illinois is one of those states with a split speed limit. That is, trucks are permitted to run 55 mph, while traffic whips by at speeds up to 80.

    Second, split speed limits cost more lives than almost any amount of speeding does. Arizona was considering a split speed limit in Interstate 10. They handed the question off to the University of Arizona, to find out how many lives might be saved. Those college kids did a pretty exhaustive research on the subject, and they finally came back with the answer. "Expect a split speed limit to claim x more lives per day, than the current regulations!" No, I don't remember the value of x, but it was significant. The politicians didn't even try to second guess the college kids and their professors - they just shitcanned the idea.

    Now, just between you and me - how fast should a truck be permitted to go? 55? 60? 70? 80? Would you consider 120 mph? Exactly how fast should trucks be allowed to drive? And, why, exactly?

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  • (Score: 2) by linkdude64 on Thursday May 25 2017, @05:05PM

    by linkdude64 (5482) on Thursday May 25 2017, @05:05PM (#515555)

    Not to defend his argument, but I would imagine should something like it be implemented, I should say the speed should vary depending on some ratio of wind speed to the weight of your vehicle. I may be mistaken in thinking so, but I would almost imagine an empty truck whipping around a corner at 80mph would be more prone to rolling/sliding/flipping than a loaded truck would. However, IANATD.