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Time for a clean slate
Page 6
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Regardless of the possible merits of the proposed changes to EU drivers hours (and you'll have to look hard to find any) Commercial Motor has a simple request: whatever supplants the existing regs, the rules MUST be made easier to understand—and to enforce. Too much time and money has already been wasted on test cases to determine exactly what the bureaucrats in Brussels intended the law to be. It really shouldn't be that difficult. You drive for X; you rest for Y. Is it so hard to come up with a law that describes the time limits in simple language? It's also significant that the new hours rules are being developed in parallel with the proposed introduction of smart-card tachographs. And if, as is rumoured, the EC is about to "publish" its smart card tacho plan in the European Journal, then from May 2004 they'll be fitted in every new truck that rolls off the production line. Both moves offer regulators and operators a marvellous opportunity to (and we use this expression guardedly) "wipe the slate dean" and create a system for drivers' hours and record keeping that everyone understands—not just Traffic Examiners and transport lawyers. It's also a golden opportunity to finally create definitive, unambiguous rules that don't prompt the question "Does this mean...?" This is our best chance to record drivers hours in an unequivocal, incorruptible, tamper-proof way fit for the 21st Century. UK Haulage PLC can either shape the future or be governed by it. Which would you prefer?