Tachoblog

Steve Williams – the Oracle of all things compliance – from TruckUK has sentTachoblog readers the following News Bulletin regarding seat belts and the carrying of digital tachograph driver cards.

Wear Your Seat Belt – It’s The Law!

Even though drivers’ MUST wear seat belts – a survey carried out for Truck UK shows that over 60% do not.

Click below for the rest of the bulletin…

Although it is a legal obligation for virtually all drivers to wear a seat belt, when fitted, a survey carried out on behalf of Truck UK came up with results that showed an average of 64% of commercial truck and van drivers’ fail to do so, with almost 80% of van drivers flouting the rules.

During September 2009 four separate visual roadside checks were carried out and 640 out of 1,000 commercial vehicle drivers checked were not wearing a seat belt. Checks were carried out at the junction of the A14 eastbound and the M11 southbound at Cambridge; Junction 17 of the A1 southbound at Peterborough; the A43 between Collyweston and Corby and on the M1 northbound at Watford Gap. This number included vans from 1 tonne (i.e. not car derived vans) up to six axle articulated commercial vehicles. All vehicles checked within the survey were displaying UK registration plates and had company details on the side of the vehicles.

Out of the total vehicles checked, where the driver could be clearly seen not wearing a seat belt, there was at least 107 passengers present in various vehicles and none of them were wearing their seat belts. It was noticeable that if the driver was wearing his/her seat belt the passenger or passengers also complied, by wearing their seat belt.

With the recent publicity from the Central Motorway Police Group regarding the utilization of an unmarked tractor unit to observe and prosecute drivers’ who flout the law by failing to wear their seat belt now is perhaps a good time to revisit your company procedures regarding the mandatory requirement for drivers’ to wear their seat belts – if you don’t know about this then have a look at Tachoblog’s post ‘Scania R480 Police Car‘.

The Police have been using an R480 Scania tractor unit to allow them to get a clear view into truck cabs as they pass by. The passenger in the Police truck then makes a record of the offence using a digital camera and prosecution by post then follows.

It’s not just the Police who are getting in on the recent surge of activity regarding this area of non-compliance. The Kent & Medway Safety Camera Partnership’s camera vans have been enforcing mobile phone and seat belt offences on a permanent basis since the beginning of October.

Camera operators trigger the LTI/2020 DVD camera system when they see offences being committed at camera sites and a Notice of Intended Prosecution is then sent to the registered keeper of the vehicle.

Drivers Must Carry Their Digital Tachograph Driver Card – Even If They Never Use It!

Since the circulation of the previous newsletter it has become apparent that VOSA are making full use of their powers to issue graduated fixed penalties at the roadside. You may remember that we made you aware of the level of revenue that had been raised in the first few months since the introduction of the new powers in April 2009, with approximately 40% of the penalties being issued to UK based drivers’.

What has become something of an issue since then has been the actions of some VOSA examiners with regard to drivers’ inability to provide their driver card for inspection at the roadside, on request.

Truck UK has been made aware by several clients of instances of drivers’ being issued with a penalty of £200.00 at the roadside for ‘failure to produce records’ when they have been driving an analogue fitted vehicle with sufficient charts available and the driver card has not been used at all.

Although we accept that the new regulations have now been in place for three years and personally believe that operators and drivers’ have been given enough warnings about the need to carry their driver cards we nonetheless have concerns that some examiners are going for the £200.00 penalty to prosecute drivers’ for this offence.

The guidelines laid down by VOSA, which every examiner should have read and understood, clearly state that this level of fine should only be considered if the examiner is satisfied that the driver is attempting to deceive the authorities regarding the hours he/she has worked and that fraudulent activities have taken place.

We believe that the majority of drivers’ fail to carry their driver card out of ignorance or forgetfulness, rather than in an attempt to operate illegally.

Therefore, although we stress again that we support the issuing of graduated fixed penalties at the roadside if it improves compliance and road safety, we would advise any operator who believes his driver has been treated unfairly, to contest the penalty, or at the very least consult their legal adviser within the 28 day period given to respond.

Never forget that the issuing of a prosecution against any of your employees for offences committed in your vehicles should normally be notified to the Traffic Commissioner, who may then decide to take additional punitive action against both the driver and you, as the operator. What’s more, when a fixed penalty is issued you may not receive a prohibition but the prosecution of the driver in your vehicle will affect your Operator Compliance Recognition Score (OCRS).

The implementation of the Driver CPC gives every operator an ideal opportunity to ensure that this type of issue is covered during periodic training.  Ensure that you insist that your training provider puts a course together that covers all the topics that your drivers’ need refreshing on. If they can’t, we can!

Now a blatant plug for Truck UK.  But they do come highly recommended by Tachoblog!

Truck UK is a company that is committed to providing vehicle & operator compliance services to every type & size of business based within the United Kingdom

Truck specialise in total operator compliance solutions – individually tailored packages – designed, produced and implemented to improve client compliance and reduce their overall costs.

If you want to get in touch with Truck UK, you’ll need these details:
Truck (UK) Limited
6 The Old Quarry
Nene Valley Business Park
Oundle
Near Peterborough
Northamptonshire
PE8 4HN

www.truckuk.net
Tel:  01832 273950