First 2024 ROADPOL Operation Detects
Sharp Rise in Truck & Bus Violations
Near Wetteren Belgium Police joined by colleagues from Dutch Police and ELA agents carried out a massive enforcement action. PHOTO: BELGIAN PUBLIC PROSSECUTOR OFFICE20 MAR – The first ROADPOL enforcement operation for 2024 detected a sharp rise in truck and bus violation rate with the one of buses almost doubling in a year.
The Europe-wide enforcement campaign on commercial transportation ran from 19th to 25th February 2024, the first of three in total for the year. At random locations the operation was supported also by teams under the umbrella of Euro Controle Route road inspection institutions and by experts of the European Labor Agency.
Activity
This time a total of 29 countries took part in the operation with number of inspected vehicles much larger than during the operation a year ago. According to their feedback, 248.498 (121.933 in 2023) trucks and 130.519 (91.590 a year ago) buses were checked. During this control week 95833 (51.468 in 2023) violations were found (trucks: 86830 buses: 9003). This time on 2467 occasions the onward journey had to be prohibited until the proper condition of the truck or load had been restored. This administrative measure was also imposed on 106 buses.
OPG Chair Jana PeleskovaOffences
The violation rate thus was 34% with trucks which is a surge of 41% since last year. The number with buses although nominally lower shows a violation rate of 6.9% which is almost double from last year’s 3.5%. For freight traffic, this means that a violation was found in 1 in 3 trucks checked. “This highlights the significant risk freight traffic poses to road safety, emphasizing the ongoing need for monitoring. European police officers undergo rigorous training in heavy traffic controls, evident in the high rate of violations detected“, said ROADPOL Operational Working Group chief Chief Commissioner Jana Peleskova from the Police of the Check Republic. For trucks most of the offences were found in the area of exceeding driving time, tachograph settings or manipulation, speed and technical offences (including overweight and insecure loads). For busses most of the offences were found in the area of seat belts and other safety restraints, speed, exceeding driving time, tachograph settings and vehicle documents.
Work And Rest
Weight control during the operation.Unfortunately still lots of drivers offended against Europe-wide valid social regulations, meaning they drove their vehicle for longer than legally allowed without complying with the mandatory breaks. Many times the prescribed tachographs were not properly managed and in isolated cases deliberate manipulations of digital tachographs were detected. “Each year, tinkering with tachograph settings or intentionally manipulating them becomes more prominent. Competitive pressures in this industry may drive such fraud, offering haulers significant financial gains at the expense of heightened risks to road safety”, Peleskova commented. Based on her perspective, driver fatigue can lead to collisions with serious repercussions, impacting not just the truck or bus driver but also other road users.
The next ROADPOL Truck & Bus operation will be taking place from 13th to 19th May 2023.
