Driver hours warning issued to car and LCV fleets after successful company prosecution

05/07/2006 09:36:00
A warning to companies that they must start tracking the working hours of their drivers is being issued to car and light commercial vehicle fleets after the first successful UK health and safety prosecution of its type.

The Produce Connection was fined £30,000 after one of its employees died when his vehicle drifted into the path of an oncoming lorry. He had worked 76 hours in the previous four days and chronic fatigue is believed to be a major factor… Rest of Article Here:

Well there goes old Dave again, rambling on about those “furrriner” issues, when we here in the good old USA don’t have a care.

Well, first of all, this blog has a good few UK readers (thanks guys and gals) but much more importantly this recent decision from the UK has both legal and moral significance here in the USA … so don’t think the fact you’ve lived your life without needing a passport exempts you. In the referenced article, which I suggest you read, a delivery company was fined more than $55,000 for letting their driver work too many hours. The driver wasn’t even on the clock when he had the accident, but the company, in addition to the fine is now greatly exposed to other liabilities with this black mark on their record.

Here’s a little snapshot of the current Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations:

Have you noticed anything there in that quote? Notice it applies to commercial vehicle that do not require CDL (Commercial Driver License), that is vehicles that 26001 GVW and not carrying hazardous materials. In short, almost every vehicle you thought didn’t need to have their mileage and hours of service tracked.

So you go about your business, fat, dumb and happy as they say until that dreadful day there’s an accident. and an inspector comes and says “may I please see your required time records for the last 6 months”?

You can live dangerously and not worry, until you get nabbed … or you can equip your vehicles with an intelligent, no monthly cost “black box” and fool proof driver identification devices so that these records are always available for call up when ever you might need them.

In addition to covering your legal nether regions, wouldn’t actually protecting your drivers and the traveling public be worth something? It’s your thought for the day, you make the call.

Tags: gps tracking, hours of service, CDL

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