2341 Truck Courses Interrupted
Due To Gross Violations
PHOTO: POLICIJA.SI19 MAR - 2341 trucks were forced to discontinue trip due to serious violations during latest ROADPOL Truck&Bus Operation.
The Europe-wide enforcement campaign on commercial transportation ran from 13th to 19th February 2023, the first of three in total for the year.
Activity
This time a total of 24 countries took part in the operation. According to their feedback, 121.933 trucks and 91.590 buses were checked. During this control week 51.468 violations were found (trucks: 46.498, buses: 4.970). 2341 times the onward journey had to be prohibited until the proper condition of the vehicles or load had been restored.
Offences
The complaint rate was 22,11% for freight transport and 3,49% for buses. For freight traffic, this means that a violation was found in almost 1 in 4 trucks checked. “This shows that freight traffic represents a major risk to road safety and that monitoring is still necessary. European police officers have a very high standard of training in heavy traffic controls, which is reflected in the high complaint rate“, said ROADPOL Operational Working Group secretary Henk P. Jansen from the Police of the Netherlands. 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.
Henk P. JansenBreaks
10.424 drivers (trucks 10.105, buses 319) offended against Europe-wide valid social regulations, meaning they drove their vehicle for longer than legally allowed without complying with the mandatory breaks. 3.607 times the prescribed tachographs were not properly managed. Manipulations of digital tachographs were detected in 468 cases. “Fumbling with the settings of the tachograph or even manipulating those takes on larger forms every year. The reason for this type of fraud might be the competitive pressure in this dynamically developing sector. The financial benefits for the haulers may be large, but the risks for road safety are greater”, Jansen commented. According to him driver fatigue can bring about collisions with serious consequences not only for the driver of the truck or bus, but for other road users as well.
Substances
210 drivers were also found taking part in road traffic under the influence of alcohol, as well as 80 drivers under the influence of drugs. In 3.297 cases (3.110 trucks, 187 buses) serious technical defects were found. 923 trucks (< 12 tons), 655 trucks (> 12 tons) and 37 busses were found with overweight. Also was the load securing insufficient on1.541 trucks. “The result of the control week shows that inspections in the area of heavy goods traffic and passenger transport are still an important approach to improve traffic safety.
In addition to the punishment of violations, the drivers are informed by clarifying discussions on the dangers such as insufficient securing of load, putting on seat belt or fatigue due to exceeding of driving times“, Jansen added.
The next ROADPOL Truck & Bus operation will be taking place from 8th to 14th May 2023.
