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Prohibition sure for driving disconnected
Page 18
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by Robin Meows The Vehicle Inspectorate has issued a warning, reminding operators and drivers to ensure that ISO 7638 braking coils are used when a drawing vehicle and trailer are both fitted with the connections—regardless of their age. The VI says vehicle examiners will issue immediate prohibitions "when they find instances of cables not being used". Following recent concerns about the dangers of driving with ABS or EBS disconnected (CM 1-13 Nov), the Vehicle inspectorate has been training vehicle examiners in the implications and operation of these systems.
That training Is now complete and a VI spokeswoman confirms that an immediate prohibition could be imposed whenever the sevenpin cables are found to be unconnected. However, she adds that examiners will have the discretion to allow drivers to reconnect the cables at the roadside arid drive on.
An immediate prohibition is an immediate prohibition," she points out "How quickly a defect is rectified does not enter into the decision.' But she added: "Examiners would consider removing a prohibition at the roadside if the observed defects can be rectified there."
Prohibitions issued in these circumstances will be endorsed as "maintenance significant" and reported to Traffic Commissioners for consideration on disciplinary action, In circumstances where a cable is fitted and a fault arises during the journey, examiners will consider issuing a movement order to enable a vehicle to travel to repair—if a warning lamp confirms the braking system is working, the prohibition will be delayed.
The spokeswoman says this tough stance is a response to the fact that some EBS/ABS systems are not provided with a secondary power supply, for instance via the stop lamp circuits. She adds that Vi staff have first-hand experience of the loss of life resulting directly from the non-use of 1S07638 cables.
''We cannot identify how many accidents, fatal or otherwise, have been attributable to the non-use of ISO cables," she says. "But one fatal collision investigated in 2001 was directly attributed to this, and VI then started looking at the extent of the problem and found a huge potential for more similar incidents."
• A free CM/Haldex artic cou• piing wallchart covering EBS and ABS braking systems will be included in next week's issue.