JANUARY 1 1968 IS THE ALL VEHICLES TO MEET BRAKING REQUIREMENTS
Page 52
Page 53
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
By the Technical Editor NEW consolidated Construction and Use Regulations which take effect on December 1 this year lay down January 1 1968 as the date on which all new goods vehicles over 30 cwt. unladen must be plated—for gross and axle weights—and meet the 50 per cent service-brake and 25 per cent emergency brake standards now demanded of plated vehicles. By that same date all other existing vehicles must meet interim braking efficiency standards. These are 45 per cent for main service brakes and 20 per cent for secondary brakes (e.g. handbrake) for two-axled rigids, and 40 per cent on main brakes and 15 per cent on secondary brakes for units forming part of an articulated outfit and for rigid vehicles with more than two axles. The new—from January 1 1968—vehicles will also have to have a parking brake capable of holding on a 1 in 6.25 gradient and most new trailers from that date will have to meet this requirement and will have to have brakes at all wheels.
These and other new requirements are set out in the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1966 (SI 1966 No. 1288) Price 6s. 6d. net from HMSO, and Motor Vehicles (Authorisation of Special Types) General Order 1966 (SI 1966 No. 1289), price 2s. 6d. net from HMSO. The regulations were laid before Parliament on November 3, having been made on October 10.
These new changes in regulations are only a part of the large volume of proposals for alterations which have been published by the Ministry of Transport and it is important for operators to know which of these have been confirmed and which are still in the pipeline.
The consolidated C. and U. Regulations —1966 No. 1288—revoke the previous comprehensive regulations-1963 No. 1646 —and all the amendments introduced subsequently, and they confirm various points previously existing as proposals. The main amendment since 1963 has been "1964 No. 1169" which introduced the higher maximum gross weights-16 tons for fourwheelers, 22 tons for six-wheelers and 32 tons for attics and so on—and the increased lengths of 11 m. (36 ft. 1 in.) for rigids and 13 m. (42 ft. 7.75 in.) for artics. Vehicles taking advantage of such higher weights (only those registered after February 1 1963 are eligible) have to carry a plate showing, among other things, the maximum axle weights and gross weight and have to meet braking efficiency requirements of 50 per cent and 25 per cent with two independent brake systems.
Now, all vehicles registered after January 1 1968 will have to be plated and meet these same braking efficiency requirements but an important modification is that"split"braking systems will be allowed, to meet the main and secondary system requirements for all classes of vehicle. This means that a four-wheeler, for example, will meet the requirements if the circuits to its front and rear brakes are completely, independent, provided that the efficiency given by each can be checked. And this represents a change compared with the proposals which put a 12-ton-gross limit on the acceptance of split systems. News of
this change in policy was forecast in COMMERCIAL MOTOR of September 30 and, apart from simplifying vehicle design, it will simplify the job of converting or modifying existing vehicles to meet the braking requirements set for them in the new consolidated regulations.
On January 1 1968 all vehicles built will have to meet braking efficiency requirements. Chassis up to 30 cwt. unladen weight are already covered (with cars) in long-standing regulations stipulating 50 per cent and 25 per cent brakes and annual testing. Pre-1968 goods vehicles above this weight, but running below the 1964 uprated weights, will have to comply with the lower efficiency figures already quoted —45 and 20 per cent for main and secondary respectively for rigids, and 40 and 15 per cent respectively for artics and rigid multiwheelers. A new requirement is that vehicles and trailers made after January 1 1968 will have to have a parking brake capable of holding them stationary on a 1 in 6.25 gradient. This covers both drawbarand semi-trailers but excludes agricultural trailers weighing 2 cwt. and less unladen.
Important point An important point is that the new regulations remove the requirement that one of the means of operating brakes shall be by direct mechanical action. This means that springbrake and lock-type actuators which are now becoming popular are made legal. Another important section deals with the efficiency requirements of artics and combinations consisting of pre-January 1 1968 tractive unit (or tractor) and post-January 1 1968 trailer, or vice versa. For example, where both the tractive unit and semi-trailer are new the full efficiency is required but if either component is pre-1968 the interim efficiency standards will be accepted for the outfit. Only when a tractor-trailer combination or artic has both parts manufactured after January 1 1968 will the combination or outfit have to have a parking brake capable of holding it on a 1 in 6.25 gradient, On any vehicle with a multi-pull handbrake operating a 50 per cent or 25 per cent system, the required efficiency must be met on the first pull. it appears that "interimefficiency" vehicles will not need to meet this. One other point of interest to commercial vehicle users is that vehicles weighing 30 cwt. and less unladen and registered on or after April 1 1967 will need to be fitted with seat belts and anchorage points.
In the pipeline That completes the picture as it will be from the beginning of 1968, but many proposals for changes are still outstanding. The interim standards for braking on pre-1968 vehicles will be withdrawn at some time and all vehicles will then have to meet 50 and 25 per cent. No firm date is known but it is anticipated that this will be in 1972. It is also planned that all vehicles on the road shall eventually be plated and this will be done when annual testing of commercials above 30 cwt. unladen begins. Government testing stations should start operating at the beginning of 1968 and the older vehicles will be called in first—as with cars and light commercials, the age for testing will be reduced until eventually all are covered. This, again, is planned for 1972 and when the test is first carried out a vehicle will be plated for either its maximum designed weight or for such lower figure as it is felt that the vehicle can safely operate at. Other matters due to become law at some future date are a type-approval scheme (probably in 1970) where vehicle designs are officially approved, and a code of practice which manufacturers will work to for vehicle performance.