Saffron Walden: Overtaking Ban To Stay

12 October 2011, 11:14 | Updated: 12 October 2011, 12:03

Lorries are going to be banned from overtaking on an uphill stretch of the M11 around Saffron Walden permanently.

A trial overtaking ban for heavy goods vehicles has been in force on part of the motorway for the last 18 months.

The scheme made it against the law for lorries weighing more than 7.5 tonnes to overtake another vehicle between 7am and 7pm.

It relates to the two uphill sections of the road on both carriageways between junction 8 and junction 9.

Drivers who ignored the ban have been either fined or summonsed to court.

The idea behind the trial was to make the road safer and less congested.

The Highways Agency says the trial has been successful, and will be made permanent next year.

A spokesperson said: "Our monitoring throughout this trial has shown that the restriction provides a worthwhile benefit to road users, both in terms of improved safety and more reliable journeys.

However, since the trial started, the statutory process for making changes to motorway regulations has changed and it will not be possible to complete this process before the temporary order which allowed us to carry out the trial, expires.

Therefore we will remove the signs when the trial period ends this month, with a view to reinstalling them when the new regulation is in place, probably some time in 2012."