Ever since speed limiters were dumped on the UK road
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transport industry by a bunch of knee-jerk politicians there's been a big hole in the legislation—big enough for a speed-limited artic. Without any mandatory physical test of a limiter the regulation was always going to be useless, not to say pointless.
While law-abiding operators play the game and run at 85km/h the cowboys roar past them at any speed they like. Of course it's not legal; it's also not fair. So when someone comes up with a way of catching them we're going to sit up and pay attention. And the Vehicle Inspectorate's handy little TVI tester looks like being the ideal weapon in the war to beat the limiter cheats.
Not only will it show the roadside enforcement teams if you've been tinkering with your limiter; it will also reveal if you've been tampering with your tac.ho. Now that's enforcement that every law abiding haulier should support.
But at the risk of being uncharitable we'd like the VI to take it one step further and issue a similar device to every HGV test station, allowing speed limiters to be physically tested for accuracy and operation every 12 months. The VI is to carry out a feasibility study on this plan. There are training and budget issues to be sorted out, but we think it would be money, and time, well spent.
The VI's obviously pleased with what a limiter tester can do at the roadside—now let's get one into the annual test.