Time to weigh up the evidence
Page 19
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MORE RESEARCH into the use of dynamic weighing machines for enforcement purposes and more adequate safeguards for operators have been called for by the Freight Transport Association.
Commenting to the DTp on the trial at Staines by the Surrey County Council, the ,Association has expressed concern about the effects of vehicle dynamics on dynamic weighers.
It is essential to know more about this, especially as different types of vehicle react in different ways, says the FTA.
The circumstances need to be reflected in the tolerances laid down by regulation and it suggests that 100kg per axle is not enough. More realistic would be a tolerance based on a fixed percentage of the recorded axle weight.
The variation in weights obtained by repeated weighing of the same vehicle is the Association's main concern. On the basis of trial results, the results obtained from a single weighing would always be suspect. It feels that the weigher should be capable of repeated weighing to a high degree of accuracy. In this context, it has expressed surprise that the DTp has used only the Weighwrite machine for its research and urges trials with machines of other manufacture before a final decision.
Rules for site preparation and setting up the equipment should be drawn up and set out in any regulations to safeguard operators.
Trials at Staines involved only a limited range of vehicles, the FTA points out, and it would like to see the trials extended to light vehicles and tankers.
There should be no enforcement action on the basis of one weighing and at least two should be required. Drivers should be given a copy of the print-out whatever the result and this document should include information for vehicle identification. A red print-out should be regarded as a "no weigh."