Kitchen Monkey

01 April 2008

Make our roads safe!!!

Road safety is something we teach our children from a very early age, along with the do not speak to or go with strangers safety rule.

‘Killer Lorries’, a message for Mr Brown, from me, perhaps we should be making a new law that these foreign Lorries drop their loads at our ports for British lorry drivers to transport throughout the UK safely and to keep our lorry drivers employed!!! What do you think let me know your comments?

I actually found myself sitting down for 5 minutes last night only to get drawn into a documentary on foreign lorry drivers, ‘killer lorries’ on ITV at 8.00pm 31st March 2008 presented by Quentin Willson.

I was astonished by what I was watching and hearing, did you see this at all??

The amount of foreign Lorries on our roads has doubled, at the port of Dover each day 6,000 foreign Lorrie’s drive into Britain. This amounts to 400,000 foreign lorry drivers on our roads each year. Upon which these Lorries are carrying an astonishing quarter of a million tonnes of goods, some of which are dangerously over laden. On top of this some of the drivers can not only not speak English but cannot read the road signs. Obviously while British lorry drivers adhere to the laws by keeping their Lorries in a good safe order with associated documentation, along with road tax, licenses and insurance, which are no small fees I might add. Along with all of this they complete taco graphs accordingly showing their driving hours to keep everyone safe, including the drivers themselves. Oh and of course not forgetting the ever increasing fuel bills we are all paying at the petrol pumps these days. All of which are putting a great strain on the British haulier and self employed British lorry drivers.

However in the other dimension the increase in firms in Britain using foreign hauliers due to these offering cheaper prices has increased seven fold. The Lorries are filled up on cheap fuel from abroad; the drivers are paid lower wages and drive unbelievable long hours not stopping for breaks. One driver on the programme had been driving for 20 hours solid another had been driving for 45 days continuous without a day off. We know ourselves how we feel if we drive tied so these were just unbelievable to think this is happening on our roads. Their Lorries are in poor repair with worn tyres etc.

The one thing which I found enormously scary was the fact that these huge trucks (which when you consider the weight of these trucks which would be like being hit by a freight train and you are parked on the railway crossing on impact), is the fact these left hand drive vehicles have a blind spot on the right hand side. This blind spot is so large is can hide an entire family saloon as you overtake on the right hand side or simply pass on the motorway. This is according to the vehicle operator’s service agency (VOSA). This causes the driver to pull out not knowing you are there and hence the driver side swipes you.

Because of this and the other factors accidents involving foreign Lorries are up by 50% in the past 5 years as reported by the mirror newspaper today (http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2008/03/31/tv-programme-claims-foreign-lorry-drivers-are-breaking-uk-safety-laws-89520-20368614/) Also running in most of today’s tabloids, the Times, the Sun etc have a look at their sites.

The foreign drivers are more likely to drive tied and the police are powerless to prosecute. The Program stated how the police could not prosecute the owners of the lorry companies, even when they had evidence that the safety laws have been broken.

Chief Insp Phil Hibbert, of Kent Police, said “the police have considerable powers to sanction British lorry drivers on safety breaches. With foreign drivers powers are more limited, but police can delay their journey until they rest up or make vehicle repairs for between 36 to 48 hours. However, we would like to see an extra provision for us to be able to fine Lorries at the roadside.”

Further to this it also said that any driving license points awarded against the driver while in Britain cannot be placed on a foreign license. I had to question this, as when we hire a car when we are abroad and if we break the law or cause an accident points are still placed on our licences! Also the program showed how you could purchase a foreign driving license on the internet for about £50. I know driving tests in other countries for example are not as long in duration or comprehensive as our test. So why, if we have to drive to a degree of safety and regulations should not ALL drivers on our roads have to do the same or get punished for breaking our laws?

The transport minister Jim Fitzpatrick said “We want to make sure that our roads are as safe as possible and they will comply. That is why we passed the Road Safety Act of 2006.”

I have to agree with Quentin and say, ‘that was 2006 we are now in 2008 and the figures are worse. I know friends and colleagues who have had accidents within these circumstances. I am made to keep my car safe; I pay my taxes for the road and on the petrol, along with necessary insurance. Why are these vehicles not made to do the same if they cannot as I mentioned at the beginning they should be made to unload at the port where a British lorry can then distribute safely within the UK and keep our roads safe!’

Send me your views, I love to hear them!