Barlby Residents and HGV Drivers Learning to Get Along

In the little town of Barlby, North Yorkshire there is two groups of people having to learn to get along: village residents and HGV drivers. They have to get along when it comes to lorry speeds, child safety, and the peace and quiet normally expected in the village during the overnight hours.

It all comes down to a road construction project now under way at the A19/A63 junction just outside Barlby. The junction is currently being reconstructed as a roundabout in order to make it safer. However, throughout the entire project the HGV vehicles that would normally have used the junction are being redirected through Barlby.

That doesn’t sit well with some of the residents of the village. Among the concerns is the belief that lorries travelling at speeds not suitable for the village are endangering the safety of schoolchildren. Barlby High School headteacher Martin Hannan is appealing to lorry drivers to slow down and be more cautious during school hours.

One of the other chief complaints comes by way of village residents who are kept awake by lorry traffic as it passes through the village. Others are able to fall asleep at night, only to be woken in the early morning hours by traffic noise. They are not happy with the current traffic situation but they also know they are powerless to do anything about it.

Let’s Everyone Do Our Best

Road construction is never a pleasant time for anyone. Between the inconvenience, noise, and dirt, things can become quite uncomfortable during a typical highway project. However, if everyone involved does his or her best to get along, it can make bearing road construction projects quite a bit easier.

As for the lorry drivers, they should know enough to adapt their driving according to conditions. Whether a driver received his or her HGV training in North Yorkshire or elsewhere, he or she should be cognizant of the potential problems they can cause when travelling through Barlby. If that means slowing down and using a little bit of extra care, so be it. Safety should always be the number one concern of the commercial driver.

As for Barlby residents, a little bit of understanding would go a long way. It was not the HGV drivers that decided to reroute traffic through the village. At the same time, their employers require them to make the best of the situation in order to get their runs completed as quickly as possible. When a driver goes through HGV training, he or she is made fully aware of the safety implications of what they are doing.

According to the Selby Times, construction of the roundabout should continue at least through to the middle of the summer. In the meantime, local police will continue vigorous enforcement efforts to make sure HGV drivers are maintaining proper speeds. If everyone involved can do what’s best for public safety, the local community should be able to get by without any significant problems.