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riven to distraction
Page 32
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Keeping boredom at bay when you spend hours behind the wheel can be a challenge, but watching TV while in charge of a moving HGV is a no-no...
Words: Pat Hagan Passing the time on a routine run can be one of the most difficult aspects of professional driving. The trick is to find something that keeps the mind alert without diverting your attention from the job in hand.
For some drivers, that might be singing along to their favourite CD, or tuning in to the news on the radio. But surely any driver with an ounce of common sense would realise that watching TV while piloting up to 44 tonnes of moving machinery is a recipe for disaster. Nonetheless Benjamin Trotsman from Bridgnorth. Shropshire, has narrowly escaped a prison sentence for doing just that.
He was spotted veering across the M6 in Cumbria by another truck driver on 11 December last year.
Gazing at Galactica The driver pulled up alongside Trotsman's cab and saw a laptop computer propped up on the dashboard. on which the offender was watching the cult TV show Battlestar Galactica. The police were alerted; Trotsman subsequently pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and was sentenced to 225 hours of community work and a 15-month ban.
Although his actions were indefensible, the case does raise questions about what constitutes a dangerous distraction in the cab.
Many trucks are fitted with TVs in the sleeping quarters, away from the driving area. But there are also laptops, mobile phones and computer games that can add to the distraction.
This is not the first time a bored trucker has put the safety of other road users at risk by watching telly.
Back in 2002, a month-long operation in Cornwall, called Operation Oratorio, stopped 1,500 trucks and found a significant number had TVs on their dashboards where drivers could see them while behind the wheel.
It also seems to be a problem on the Continent. Earlier this year French drivers sparked alarm when police began to receive reports that many were using a new driving technique to watch TV and stay on the road.
On quiet stretches of motorway some drivers were allegedly putting the wheels of their vehicles on the rumble strips marking the border with the hard shoulder and set the cruise control.
They would then watch their favourite programmes and look up only when the noise from the strips suddenly disappeared. These are clearly extreme examples, hut where does the law stand on potential obstructions or distractions while driving?
"It doesn't specify." says transport lawyer Tim Culpin, from York-based firm Aaron and Partners. "Ifs basically common sense. But if Vosa found a TV or laptop mounted on a driver's dashboard it would tend to slap a prohibition on the vehicle, even if the TV was switched off."
Certainly anything that falls within the sweep of the windscreen wipers is banned under existing regulations and would earn a prohibition. "We had a case once where a prohibition was issued for a home-made table that was fixed on the dashboard to hold a TV or other device," says Culpin. "If a cyclist had pulled up by the nearside front wing the driver would not have been able to see him because the table obscured his view, Don't cause danger
The law states that a driver must not do anything that constitutes a danger to other road users.Technically, that means even tuning the radio could be seen to be breaking the law, if it affects the quality of driving.
"But that's where it starts to get a little ridiculous," says Culpin. "You could even ask if a driver should be allowed to have a conversation with their passenger in case it constitutes dangerous driving. The law tends to look at each case as it comes. I think the bottom line is none of us wants drivers who take risks like the TV guy on the road we all have families to think of."
Vosa confirms that problems arise whenever a driver's view is obstructed in any way, whether it be by a fluffy toy or a flask of coffee. A spokesman says: -The view to the front in a large vehicle is a road safety critical issue due to the clear vision needed to manoeuvre the vehicle.
"For example, the dash on an HGV generally slopes down towards the screen to enable a better view of close obstacles and pedestrians. It is an immediate prohibition if there is any object seriously impairing the driver's view through the area swept by the windscreen wipers." •