Police call for tougher action
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• Britain's police chiefs are calling on the Department of Transport to make operators responsible for their drivers' hour offences and to impose tougher HGV driving-offence penalties.
The report to Roads and Traffic Minister Peter Bottomley comes from the Lancashire constabulary, but it was put together earlier this year at a motorway safety seminar where delegates included officers from several police forces and the Association of Chief Police Officers.
It calls for the simpler drivers' hour regulations, greater police powers to take an HGV off the road for certain offences, and the acceptance of tachograph charts as evidence in speeding cases.
Other recommendations inchide lower speed limits for HGVs in contraflows, safer positioning of fuel tanks in light CVs and the compulsory fitting of anti-lock brakes to all new commercial vehicles.