THE RULES OF REST
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Not only do cheaper rivals irk the Finns, but EU regulations on driving time are also bugbears, "I don't see why I must stop 30 minutes from home just because someone who obviously doesn't drive has made these rules," Hartikka grumbles. "I know if I'm tired or not."
Fellow driver Timo agrees with the lack of flexibility, if not the rest period. Leino claims: `The rest is a good thing as more reach retirement age, whereas before they were burnt out — or dead — well before." He retires next year on his 63rd birthday. Leino — unusually — works for his son, Jukka, driving a B-train, the 60-tonne two-container rig, which is a relative newcomer here.
As he talks of his other son being an driver-owner (as Leino 's father was), he suddenly looks unhappy and points to a Polish truck with a Finnish trailer: "There's another saatana (devil)," he says "Why do we follow the rules when many don't," comments Jukka. "All trucks should have the new tachos. But at least the police are now checking all nationalities, and not just Finnish ones as they used to."