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Consultation on Heavy Goods Vehicle and Passenger Carrying Vehicle motorway speed limitsThe purpose of this consultation is to seek views on the DfT's proposals to change the maximum speed limits for: - Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs), having a maximum laden weight not exceeding 7.5 tonnes; - Passenger Carrying Vehicles (PCVs) adapted to carry more than 8 passengers. They are proposing to make the following changes to motorway speed limits for these vehicles:
DfT state that making the above changes would mean that all HGVs would have the same maximum speed limit of 60mph, whereas there are currently two limits of 70mph for HGVs not exceeding 7.5 tonnes gross vehicle weight and 60mph for HGVs exceeding 7.5 tonnes gross vehicle weight Likewise, all Passenger Carrying Vehicles would have the same maximum speed limit of 65mph, whereas there are currently two limits of 70mph for PCV's not exceeding 12 metres in overall length and 60mph for PCV's exceeding 12 metres. What must be frustrating for operators of commercial vehicles is the ease with which the Department for Transport can decide to put forward an increase of 5 miles per hour for coaches that will be full of members of the public, when there is not any appetite for putting forward an increase in the speed limit for trucks on some single carriageway roads from the car driver road rage inducing 40 miles per hour! Nevertheless, within the consultation documents we are told that "the main reason for proposing these changes is because most modern HGV's have a technical restriction (speed limiter) stopping them from exceeding 56mph (90Kmh) and most modern PCV's are speed limited to 62.5mph (100Kmh)". I accept that passenger transport vehicles that require speed limiters are set at 62.5 mph (100km/hr), but surely when considering safety as a priority this statement goes against the Dft wish to increase the speed limit for coaches in excess of 12 metres in length from 60 miles per hour to 65 miles per hour! Whilst most HGV's and PCV's registered since 2001 are speed-limited by law, some older, smaller and lighter HGV's and PCV's are still not required to have speed limiters fitted and this therefore gives them a speed advantage on motorways over comparable newer vehicles. If these changes are brought in it is believed that safety on the motorways would be further improved, because all drivers would know what maximum speed to expect and they would also know that no HGV or 8+ seater PCV's should be in the outside lane (whereas non-speed-limited ones currently can be) of any motorway. Furthermore the Department for Transport believe that enforcement would be easier to carry out because it would be easier for the authorities to enforce just one speed limit per vehicle class and it would consequently also reduce the incentive for unscrupulous and non-compliant operators and drivers to tamper with speed limiters, as it is stated some currently do so in order to gain a speed advantage. View speed limit consultation documents here Responses to the consultation document need to be received by the Department for Transport by Tuesday 27th April 2010. Even though drivers’ MUST wear seat belts – a survey carried out for Truck UK shows that over 60% do not.
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. At the end of 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. 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.
WEAR YOUR SEAT BELT – IT’S THE LAW! download an A4 information poster Seat belt wearing IT'S THE LAW! and put it on the drivers' notice board Drivers Jailed for Falsifying RecordsFather and son drivers operating out of The Port of Felixstowe were sentenced to prison in October 2009 after pleading guilty to falsifying tachograph records. The Judge at Ipswich Crown Court heard from prosecuting Barrister, Miles Bennett how the son had allowed his name to be used on tachograph record sheets to hide excess driving and insufficient rest. Father, Colin Linder was sentenced to six months in prison after knowingly making 20 false records and disqualified from driving for 12 months. His son Sean Newson, also the CPC holder was sentenced to four months for knowingly falsifying 16 tachograph records due to, as the Judge described “misguided loyalty towards his father”. The Judge at Ipswich Crown Court has sent a clear message out to the industry - drivers who allow their names to be used on tachographs records by others will face a custodial sentence. Alex Fiddes, Chief Operating Officer for VOSA said: ‘’This case highlights the severity of fraudulent records. ’We are dedicated in improving road safety and a large proportion of that is ensuring drivers are adhering to the rules. We take falsification of tachograph records extremely seriously. As this case has proved it can result in a prison sentence.'' No costs were incurred by either perpetrator, due to their financial circumstances. Kevin Reid, the investigating VOSA Traffic Examiner was awarded a Judges Commendation for his diligence in the case. Drivers warned not to fall for CPC exemption card scamThe Vehicle Operator Service Agency (VOSA) and the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) are advising drivers that they do not need to buy a card to prove they are exempt from Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) regulations. The so-called ‘Driver Qualification Exemption Card’ or DQEC is being offered for sale on the internet for £49.00. VOSA’s Traffic Enforcement Policy spokesman Peter McIntyre says: “Our enforcement officers would not use this card to check driver exemption, as it has no legal validity. We don’t want drivers to be spending money on something they don’t need.” Under the current rules, drivers who gain their initial Driver CPC after 10 September 2008 Public Goods Vehicles (PGV) or 10 September 2009 for Large Goods Vehicles (LGV) are required to complete four modules before they can receive their Driver Qualification Card (DQC), which they must keep with them at all times when driving professionally. To retain the Driver CPC, 35 hours of periodic training must then be completed within a 5-year period, and every subsequent 5 year period. Drivers who had LGV or PCV entitlement on their driving licence at the implementation dates shown above will need to have completed 35 hours of approved periodic training within five years of the implementation date to receive their DQC and then complete 35 hours of training in every subsequent five years, if they wish to continue to drive professionally VOSA are now authorised to issue graduated fixed penalties at the roadside. New powers to ensure that all drivers who break the rules on UK roads , irrespective of what country they are based in, came into force at the beginning of April 2009 and VOSA began using the powers from the end of May 2009. In the first three months they issued approximately 11,000 penalty notices and raised £500,000 in deposits and penalty payments. 40% of drivers' penalised were UK based. Under the new laws all drivers - including hauliers - living outside the UK can no longer escape the penalties faced by UK based offenders. VOSA Traffic and Vehicle Examiners are now able to issue graduated penalty notices to drivers of heavy goods vehicles working from bases in both GB and abroad, in addition to immobilising vehicles where driving hours, weight or vehicle safety rules have been broken. Any driver who is found to have committed traffic offences on GB roads and cannot provide a verifiable address will have to pay a financial penalty deposit equal to the amount of the fixed penalty, or £300.00 as a deposit in respect of a potential court fine, up to a maximum of £900.00. The new measures enable both the Police and VOSA to immobilise any vehicle that has been prohibited from continuing a journey where a driver is breaking the rules on drivers' hours; is driving an overloaded or unroadworthy vehicle; or in cases where a driver refuses to pay a requested financial deposit. The above has been introduced under the Road Safety Act 2006, relating to immobilisation, fixed penalties, financial penalty deposits and driver records of unlicensed and foreign drivers. The immobilisation powers are an additional sanction to help enforce prohibitions issued against vehicles - for instance because they are mechanically defective or, in the case of a commercial vehicle, the vehicle is overloaded or the driver is found to be breaking the drivers' hours rules.. The powers also help to enforce the requirement to pay a financial penalty deposit from those without a verifiable address. These powers enable the police and VOSA, to issue fixed penalties for a list of non-endorsable offences including: * offences under drivers' hours rules * failing to hold an Operator's Licence * overloading a vehicle * 'cabotage' offences * failing to produce evidence of a Driver CPC. The police and VOSA are also able to issue fixed penalty notices to non-UK residents for endorsable offences. Details of the offence, including the penalty points, will be recorded on the DVLA driver record. VOSA will not be issuing fixed penalties / penalty points for all endorsable offences, eg speeding. Serious offences, such as fraud / counterfeit documents will continue to be prosecuted. The levels of fixed penalties range from £30.00 to £200.00 Drivers' hours and overloading offences are subject to graduated fixed penalties (according to the seriousness of the behaviour and the circumstances of the offence). The level of graduations are set out in the Fixed Penalty (Amendment) Order 2009. Statutory Instrument 2009/488, which amends the Fixed Penalty Order 2000. Simple to follow tables laying out the penalties and the way in which they are calculated are available to view and/or download for free in the publication Driving Licences and Graduated Fixed Penalties. Click HERE for your own copy. We also provide a two sided information bulletin sheet that lays out the likely penalties to be faced by drivers. If you would like an electronic copy e-mail: send me the fixed penalty sheet and we'll send one by return e-mail. Operation Information Bulletins - a free service We send a pdf formatted Operator Information Bulletin round to all our clients periodically throughout the year, but only when we believe we have something to say that operators may find of use or interest. In 2009 we circulated bulletins in April, June, August, September and December, with an 'end of British Summertime' warning sheet about changing the clocks in October. If you would like to be added to the circulation list simply e-mail: add me to the bulletin list and you will automatically receive free electronic bulletins in the future.
Driver CPC for goods vehicles drivers As you will no doubt be aware if you have got this deep into the website the mandatory requirement for new entrants to the industry to take and pass Driver CPC initial qualification examinations is now in force. What's more, existing professional LGV drivers now have to undertake 35 hours of approved periodic training every five years, if they want to continue to drive for a living after 10th September 2014. There's information about the Driver CPC on other areas of this website and we have put together a free twelve page briefing document that you can view and/or download by CLICKING HERE The official Driving Standards Agency (DSA) Driver CPC website covering all aspects of the new mandatory training requirement is: www.drivercpc.org and if you go onto that site you can check that the training provider you are considering to provide periodic training is accredited and approved. Truck UK is approved as JAUPT Approved Training Centre - Number ACO 184 and we have 7 hour modules of approved periodic training being presented to client companies now. We are happy to give free advice and information regarding the Driver CPC to any goods vehicle operator who is not sure of the options available. If you're employing category C vocational licence holders who drive any commercial vehicles that are plated at over 3.5 tonne gross vehicle weight, even for one day in a year, you need to make sure they're going to undertake sufficient and acceptable periodic training to ensure they will be issued with a Driver Qualification Card (DQC) by 10th September 2014, or they won't be legally permitted to drive for a living and any operator who uses them after that date will be liable to prosecution, as well running the risk of having their vehicle insurance cover invalidated. It's worth sitting down and considering just how many drivers' you've got, including part-time, office and warehouse staff, who occasionally help out on the driving front, and then estimating the days you will need to put aside for training and how you are going to cover that additional and regular cost from now onwards. Unless you integrate existing training into the new and mandatory requirement there will be a detrimental impact on your budget, in term of additional driver training time and the cost of that training. However, the belief is that once regular periodic training kicks in across all professional drivers there should be an improvement in all round road sense and preventative maintenance, leading to a long term benefit to safety on our roads as a whole and reduced company costs, due to a reduction in accidents, wear and tear on the vehicles and unnecessary downtime, as drivers should be more alert to danger and also picking up faults before defects occur. PLAN NOW ....... It's essential that planning and budgets for 2010 and beyond take into account the new mandatory requirement. It's an ongoing requirement that affects every vocational driver throughout their professional driving career. DISCUSS THE FUTURE - If you are running or are employed within a company that operates its own trucks and you would like to confidentially talk through this recently introduced mandatory training requirement and how you can integrate it into your existing procedures e-mail : steve.williams@truckuk.net and give him a brief description of what you do and where you're based. He will then provide specific information and assistance on what you need to be considering and how best to use this new training requirement to your advantage. FREE PRESENTATION - If you would like a presention covering Driver CPC to you and your colleagues at your facility or as part of any training day or conference you or any organisation you are a member of are holding we would be happy to come along, at no cost to you or your company. We provide this service absolutely free to companies; organisations; groups; chambers or associations based within the East Midlands and East Anglia, with an expenses only cost requested if asked to travel further afield. To get the true facts on Driver CPC Periodic Training go to the official DSA / JAUPT website at: www.drivercpc-periodictraining.org last updated February 2010 |
THE HIGHWAY CODE Another 'must read' for professional drivers and anyone else who drives/rides on or walks near a public highway (a book that is sadly very rarely found in the average motorists glove compartment) is the Highway Code. The most recent version was published at the end of 2007 and an online copy can be found at: The New Highway Code THE EU DRIVERS' HOURS REGULATIONS In the last three years the haulage industry has seen a number of additions, amendments and replacements to the rules and regulations that goods vehicle operators and vocational commercial truck drivers must adhere to, including the biggest change to the drivers' hours rules in over 20 years - the mandatory fitting of digital tachograph vehicle units into all in-scope vehicles registered since May 2006. EC Regulation 561/2006 - the final change to the record keeping requirements took place nearly two years ago now - on 1st January 2008 (drivers' to carry the current days records and any completed within the previous 28 calendar days). Regulation (EC) 561/2006 (Drivers’ Hours) The text of the regulation can be seen by clicking here Regulation (EC) 3820/85 has been repealed and replaced by Regulation (EC) 561/2006
Regulation (EEC) 3821/85 has been amended to clarify specific obligations on transport undertakings and drivers, as well as confirming the official date for mandatory fitment of the digital tachograph vehicle units, which in the UK was over three years ago; 1st May 2006. The text of the regulation can be seen by clicking here
Regulation (EC) No 2135/98 has been amended to enable the use of the digital tachograph to record drivers' hours, specifically the activities of a driver over a 28-day period to be recorded electronically on his/her personal driver smart card and electronic records of vehicle operations via the digital tachograph vehicle unit to cover a 365-day period to be stored within that vehicle unit. The text of the regulation can be seen by clicking here Key changes brought about by the implementation of Regulation (EC) 561/2006include:
It had been found that, under the previous Drivers’ Hours Regulation (EEC) No 3820/85, it was legally possible to schedule daily driving periods and breaks to enable a driver to drive for longer than was originally intended. It had previously been acceptable to take breaks in three periods of 15 minutes. This meant that it was legally possible to drive almost 9 hours with only 15 minutes rest. However, the new rules have now been changed so that a driver can only take a break of AT LEAST 1 X 15 minutes followed by a break of AT LEAST 1 X 30 minute over a 4 and a half hour driving period. Even if the first break period is 20 or even 25/30 minutes it is still a requirement of the legislation that the second break MUST be AT LEAST 30 minutes. There is no longer an opportunity to split the 45 minute break in various ways. It's AT LEAST 15 minutes followed by AT LEAST 30 minutes over the four and a half hour driving period. Although, you can still opt for a 45 minute break at the end of the four and a half hour driving period. The 2006 regulation has brought in an obligatory minimum daily rest of 9 hours for drivers (replacing the previous 8 hours) and an obligatory regular weekly rest period of at least 45 consecutive hours every two weeks.
In the past one interruption of no more than 1 hour was permitted when undertaking a ferry crossing, with 2 hours compensation to be added to total rest period. Now, ferry crossings can be interrupted not more than twice, of which the interruptions may be no more than 1 hour, but the rest period being interupted must be an 11 hour rest period, not a reduced rest period.
Every new in-scope vehicle that has entered service since 1st May 2006 must be fitted with digital tachograph recording equipment (a Vehicle Unit - VU). Drivers operating these vehicles must have been issued with a personal driver card (issued by DVLA in the UK) and adhere to the additional requirements this new type of recording equipment places upon them. If a driver has not been issued with a driver card he should not be allowed to drive a digital tachograph fitted vehicle. If a driver has been issued with a driver card he is legally required to carry that driver card with him when at work, even if he is not driving a vehicle fitted with a digital tachograph. Please be aware that VOSA have issued graduated fixed penalties at the roadside of £200.00 against drivers' who have been unable to provide their driver card on request. When an examiner asks for a drivers' name and date of birth he has all the information he needs to check, by way of his mobile compliance device (MCD), to see details held by DVLA on that individual, including driving licence categories and any endorsements and if a driver card has been issued.
All drivers, irrespective of what type of recording equipment they are using, shall make available, on request at the roadside by authorised inspecting officers, the current record sheet and those produced/used in the previous 28 calendar days. This requirement came into force on 1st January 2008. Article 26 of the Regulation deals with the records the driver must be able to produce, which relates to the current record and those produced for the previous 28 days, which became a legal requirement from 1st January 2008. These periods apply both to analogue and digital records. Records of drivers’ hours, including analogue charts and printouts from digi-tac vehicle units, must be kept by the operator for at least 12 months, in chronological order*, and made easily available for inspecting officers.
*Article 26 requires that records and printouts are kept in chronological order. In the case of a damaged Driver Smart Card the regulation requires the driver to print out the details of the vehicle at the start of the journey and enter the details to enable the driver to be identified and signature; at the end of the journey print out the information relating to the period of time recorded by the equipment and again enter details that will identify the driver and signature.
All drivers, irrespective of what type of recording equipment they are using, must record “other work” under: “Periods of Availability - POA ” must be recorded under the 'box' activity mode, to ensure compliance with the Road Transport (Working Time) Regulations 2005. Article 26 stipulates that 'other work', including work for another employer within or outside the sector, is recorded under the cross hammer symbol shown above and that 'availability' is now recorded under the box symbol. It's essential that drivers' keep a true record of their days activities. This means that the activity modes must be used correctly when using both analogue and digital tachograph equipment. It is wrong and could lead to prosecution for drivers' of analogue tachograph equipped vehicles to leave the activity mode switch set continually on 'break/rest' as VOSA traffic examiners are now wise to this. In the past there was more of an easy going attitude to the above practice, but now a driver will face tough questioning as to how he manages to carry out walk round checks; refuelling; picking up and getting signed PODS when all he is recording is driving and break!
We've produced a simple to understand 'Guide to EU Drivers' Hours' two sided A4 information sheet that we hope will make it easy to check the driving hours' you're working. If you would like a free copy, in pdf format, click your mouse here last updated February 2010 |
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