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Foreign drivers do get off lightly...
Page 7
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FIGURES PUBLISHED by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) appear to provide further evidence that foreign drivers are escaping prosecution for road offences.
Figures from the Traffic Enforcement and Roadworthiness Inspection for 2002/03 show that a paltry 80 (about 0.7%) successful prosecutions were brought against foreign hauliers out of 11,421 examined. This compares with 8,949 UK drivers (about 9.4%) successfully prosecuted out of 95.166 examined.
A total of 82,580 UK-plated vehicles were inspected for roadworthiness in the same period, which resulted in 1,329 prosecutions (1.6%). But only 11 foreign trucks were prosecuted for similar offences after 3.018 were inspected. which equates to 0.4%.
However, the Department for Transport and ACP° are attempting to address this apparent imbalance by introducing an on-the-spot fixed penalty and graduated deposit scheme to target offending foreign drivers, in light of the problem CM first revealed (CM 24 July).
Thansport minister David Jamieson says the figures do not reflect the actual level of offending by foreign operators. Road Haulage Association chief executive Roger King disagrees: "The figures do support the belief that the number of prosecutions brought against foreign drivers as a percentage of those found to have broken the law remains abysmally low."
A spokeswoman from the Department for Transport says a date has yet to be set for the introduction of the fixed penalty system.