Surveys were carried out by TRRL to investigate public attitudes towards environmental nuisance from drawbar goods vehicles. These comprised a survey in a town centre, on the TRRL test track, and a home interview survey. Where drawbar and articulated vehicles were compared, there was a tendency for people to say that drawbar vehicles would cause the greater nuisance. However a substantial number of people said that both vehicle types would cause the same amount of nuisance. Respondents in the studies at TRRL and in the home interview survey were shown a film that demonstrated the manoeuvrability of articulated and drawbar vehicles. This resulted in a shift in attitudes so that people became more likely to favour drawbar vehicles than they had been previously. Despite this shift, there remained a preference for articulated lorries from the point of view of motorists on motorways and visual obstruction. In the home interviews, the reason most frequently given for the 'after demonstration' preferences concerned the greater length of the drawbar and the poorer ability of the articulated vehicles to negotiate corners.
Abstract