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DSA's Laden test ideas will raise revenue but not safety
Page 17
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THERE ARE MANY who welcome the latest proposals from the DSA on laden testing ('DSA bows to pressure over laden HGV tests' CM 18 June). I, however, do not.
Although I am a strong believer in training drivers on laden vehicles. I do not believe that the DSA's current proposals will improve training standards, or road safety for that matter.
The proposals focus on compliance with the EU pirective and the DSA's administrative convenience; and they only pay lip service to improving standards. They represent the worst of both worlds.
The document says: "The new standards should rovide for a more realistic assessment of driving bility..," No, they won't. Anyone who drives a truck, or tows a car trailer, knows they're most difficult to handle when unladen, when they are most skittish, and fully laden when acceleration is slow, cornering difficult and stopping takes longer. The mininum test vehicle for a rigid truck is 12 tonnes, but the requirement for eight-speed gearboxes means that many training vehicles are 18-tonners, or downplated versions thereof. An 18-tonner with a well-placed five-tonne load is a more pleasant vehicle to drive than an unladen one — the gears space out nicely, there is less bounce, but still plenty of acceleration, Training firms will be OK, because they can keep their training vehicles loaded all the time, although it will cause difficulties when they need to hire an additional — or replacement — vehicle or trailer.
The proposed 1,000kg water-filled 1BCs for trucks are no problem if you have a loading dock and a forklift available, but many schools do not, so moving the load will be a problem.
The DSA proposals, as written, are extremely specific, inflexible, and were designed just to make life simple for the DSA. Any load that appears to be too light — or too heavy — will result in the test being cancelled. Costs will be increased, but without significantly improving driver training standards. Edward Handley WRRS Consultancy
Via email