ROADPOL Recording 18% Rise In Truck Violations

18% rise in truck violation rate was registered by ROADPOL associated road police forces during a recent pan-European enforcement action.

The campaign was held in November under the ROADPOL Truck&Bus operational logo and was the third of 2023, focused on control of commercial goods and passenger transport.

Range

17 countries took part in the joint operation. According to their feedback, 245.500 trucks and 11.261 buses were checked. During this control week 38.589 violations were found (trucks: 79.152, buses: 8.796). 2556 times the onward journey had to be prohibited until the driver has taken his statutory rest period or the proper condition of the vehicles or load had been restored. The complaint rate was 26,23% for freight transport which is an 18% increase compared to results of the same operation a year ago (22,81%). Alarmingly, the violation rate among buses was at 6,96%, which is lower than the one among trucks, but still 17% higher than the one registered among buses a year ago (5,91%).

– For freight traffic, this means that one or more violation(s) was found in 1 of 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 violation rate – said ROADPOL Operational Working Group chairman Chief Commissioner Jana Peleskova from the Police of the Czech Republic.

Offences

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). 10.368 drivers (trucks 9.846, buses 522) offended against Europe-wide valid social regulations, meaning they drove their vehicle for longer than legally allowed without complying the mandatory breaks. 307 drivers were also found taking part in road traffic under the influence of alcohol, as well as 106 drivers under the influence of drugs.

In 5.033 cases (4.911 trucks, 122 buses) serious technical defects were found. 1.695 trucks (< 12 tons), 1.211 trucks (> 12 tons) and 113 buses were found with overweight. The load securing was insufficient on 1.631 trucks. 4.834 times the prescribed tachographs were not properly managed. Manipulations of digital tachographs were detected in 344 cases.

Fraud

– Fumbling with the settings of the tachograph or even manipulating those takes on larger forms every year. The reason for this type of fraud is the competitive pressure in the still-growing transport industry. The financial benefits for transporters may be large, but the risks for road safety are greater. Especially due to driver fatigue, collisions can occur with serious consequences, not only for the driver of the truck or bus, but also for other road users. Many of the other violations (such as speed, insufficient load securing, and technical defects of the vehicles) are often the main causes of serious collisions and must be countered by controls on freight traffic – Peleskova added.

According to her the result of the control week show that inspections in the area of ​​heavy goods traffic and passenger transport are still an important approach to improve traffic safety.

Source/photo: ROADPOL