EC plan would double checks
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TRAFFIC EXAMINERS will have to triple the number of checks they carry out on trucks as part of a European package of measures to improve road safety The European Commission wants to raise the proportion of annual checks from 1% to 3% of each member state's entire truck parc. It also wants vehicle examiners to double the minimum number of checks carried out on operators' premises to 50°A), saying this is the most effective way of rooting out cowboys The proposed directive, which could come into force in the UK as early as 2005, is also designed to tighten up enforcement of the drivers hours regulations. A spokeswoman for the UK's Vehicle & Operator Services Agency (VOSA) would not speculate on whether its 245-strong team of traffic examiners will have to be expanded.
"The timing of the implementation of any changes is dependent on the introduction of digital tachographs and the number of digital tachographs in use," she points out.
However, Don Armour, the Freight Transport Association's manager of international services, warns: -Us being us we will probably follow the rules, but in the more far-flung European countries it probably won't make a ha'p'orth of difference."