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THERE IS A CASE TO ANSWER
Page 10
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The real story behind BBC's Real Stories programme is that it was a fair piece of mainstream journalism which highlighted the human cost of accidents involving trucks and tackled the government about its lack of will to address this issue.
"It is simply not acceptable
for the government to
A larger proportion of foreign trucks attract prohibitions than their UK counterparts and are more likely to cause accidents. Despite the T&G's accusations of xenophobia, there does seem to be a case to answer; a register of foreign truck operators would enable Vosa to introduce the intelligenceled tactics it uses to good effect on the UK vehicle parc.
ignore enforcement needs"
And. whether or not we believe that the Working Time Directive ought to be stronger. fatigue-related crashes are not caused by people who have worked for 43 hours instead of 38. They are caused by drivers who have driven for 15. 20 or 24 hours, and will ignore any law.
But we also need to put CV accidents in perspective. There were 520 fatal crashes last year involving LGVs, 261 involving light CVs-and 3,465 involving cars. In light of these statistics it is simply not acceptable for the government to refuse to put more money into enforcement across the board. How many cars are unsafe? How many illegal. disqualified and uninsured drivers are behind the wheel on UK motorways? Traffic Commissioners and Vosa agree that the vast majority of UK operators are safe, achieving high levels of professionalism with their drivers and vehicles. We should accept nothing less from the other traffic on our roads.
Compare and contrast two industries' representatives in the Scottish Parliament last week. During a debate on the new freight policy, 23 operators turned out to watch a fairly depressing spectacle which seemed to offer no prospect of relief for the problems they face. The Chartered Society of Physiotherapists was also there to lobby backed by no less than 200 of its members. Is there a lesson to be learned?