From 12th to 18th October 2020, the Europe-wide ROADPOL Control Week "Truck and Bus” took place, which focuses on the control of commercial goods and passenger transport. Over the year 28 European countries participate in this operations.
Despite the great attention that many police forces have to devote to the COVID19 pandemic, 17 countries nevertheless took part in this action. According to their feedback, 206.304 trucks and 119.081 buses were checked.
Operation Results
During this control week 59.501 violations were found (trucks: 68.791, buses: 10.392).
33.158 times the onward journey had to be prohibited until the proper condition of the vehicles or load had been restored, thereof 2.539 trucks and 619 buses. This is roughly equal to the numbers in the same month in 2019.
The violation rates were 33,34% for freight transport and 5,96% for buses. For freight traffic, this means that a violation was found in 1 in 3 trucks checked. Fortunately, that number is lower for buses. 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.
Most of the offences were found in the areas of technical offences and vehicle documents law for busses and in the areas of speed, legislation on driving and rest times and tachograph settings:
10.426 drivers (trucks 10.029, buses 397) offended against Europe-wide valid social regulations, meaning they drove their