How to ensure your vehicles are road safe & green

Best Practice Guide: Vehicle Safety

How to ensure your vehicles are road safe & green

Written by Phil Lloyd, head of engineering and vehicle standards policy at the Freight Transport Association (FTA)

Phil Lloyd, FTA’s head of engineering and vehicle standards policy, pulls out some of the most salient points from the updated DVSA Guide to Maintaining Roadworthiness and shares his key advice

All vehicle operators and drivers wanting to check if a vehicle is road safe should refer to DVSA’s Guide to Maintaining Roadworthiness. The guide, applicable to commercial goods vehicles and passenger carrying vehicles, was recently updated and provides bestpractice advice and legal requirements. For those wishing to reduce their fleets’ carbon emissions, there are many tools and techniques available, which can also help to extend the life of a vehicle and make its operation more cost effective. Phil Lloyd, FTA’s head of engineering and vehicle standards policy, pulls out some of most salient points from the Guide to Roadworthiness and shares his key advice.

Check lists

The most effective way to keep a vehicle road-safe between roadworthiness safety inspections is to undertake daily pre-use vehicle checks and make sure any defects or defect symptoms are reported immediately, with remedial action being taken as soon as possible, in some cases before the vehicle is used. Key elements of this routine should include (where applicable) checking electric warning indicators, security of the load, number plates, lights and indicators, steering, security of body/wings/mudflaps, wheel security, general tyre condition and mirrors.

The most effective way to keep a vehicle road-safe between roadworthiness safety inspections is to undertake daily vehicle checks

Traffic Commissioners can take action against anyone who fails to complete an adequate walk-around check, so this procedure must not be overlooked. Drivers are legally responsible for the condition of a vehicle when in use on the road and report any defects swiftly, for example, unusual vehicle vibrations. In addition to these regular checks, firstuse inspections and regular roadworthiness safety inspections must be completed. Transport managers and operators should ensure these safety inspections are reflective of the conditions to which the vehicle is put. For example, a vehicle used regularly in hilly areas may require more frequent checks of its brakes.

Emissions considerations

Operators and drivers should make every effort to reduce vehicle emissions wherever possible.There are several different methods available to do this, such as encouraging fuel-efficient driving through education, training, incentives and the installation of telematics. Routing and scheduling processes can optimise fuel efficiency, while aerodynamics, tyre management, and utilising alternative fuels can also reduce emissions. Identifying a fuel or energy efficiency champion will also help promote this agenda. With the upcoming introduction of Clean Air Zones (CAZ) across several cities and London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), companies should consider upgrading their vehicles to meet the new requirements. Only vehicles meeting the emission standards set by the European Union – Euro VI for diesel and Euro V for petrol vehicles – will be permitted to enter these zones without paying a fee.

Keeping green

In its Road to Zero strategy, the government set a voluntary emission reduction target of 15 per cent by 2025 for all HGVs, but this is a target which operators of all types of vehicles should aspire to achieve. The Logistics Emission Reduction Scheme (LERS), which FTA provides free of charge to the whole industry to help operators reduce emissions, has adopted the government’s emission reduction target, building on its existing achievement of a seven per cent reduction in its members’ emissions by 2015 compared to 2010. The scheme aggregates its member’s fuel usage and business activity data to establish a carbon footprint and has been successfully demonstrating industry’s ability to improve emissions on its own without further government regulation. LERS supports its members by providing guidance on carbon reducing measures, regular policy updates and valuable information on reducing fuel costs. Membership is free and open to all companies with at least one commercial vehicle. For more information, or to join the scheme, please visit www.lers.org.uk While DVSA’s Guide to Maintaining Roadworthiness provides the standards required to keep a vehicle road safe from a legal perspective, operators and drivers – particularly those concerned with reducing their environmental impact – should explore all other tools and techniques available.

Leaner logistics Efficient logistics is vital to keep Britain trading, directly having an impact on more than seven million people employed in the making, selling and moving of goods. With Brexit, new technology and other disruptive forces driving change in the way goods move across borders and through the supply chain, logistics has never been more important to UK plc. A champion and challenger, FTA speaks to Government with one voice on behalf of the whole sector, with members from the road, rail, sea and air industries, as well as the buyers of freight services such as retailers and manufacturers.

Emissions and air quality

For vehicles showing signs of visible exhaust smoke, a diesel smoke meter should be used to ensure that the level of smoke emission is within the legal requirements. Information on the levels of permitted exhaust smoke is contained in DVSA‘s annual test inspection manuals.Vehicles fitted with emission control systems (ECS) need to be maintained in-line with manufacturers’ recommendations. Drivers and operators are required to monitor the ECS warning lamps, and ensure the diesel exhaust fluid level (AdBlue) is maintained correctly. Any emission control system faults need to be rectified as soon as possible and repaired in-line with manufacturer’s standards. It should be noted that a person who fails to maintain an emission control system, or modifies or removes it, could be found guilty of an offence. This would put your operators’ licence at risk, and the potential penalties are unlimited fines.

Transport managers should ensure safety inspections are reflective of the conditions to which the vehicle is put. For example, a vehicle used regularly in hilly areas may require more frequent checks of its brakes.

FURTHER INFORMATION

DVSA’s Guide to Maintaining Roadworthiness is available at tinyurl.com/y7jh93qa

Monitoring drivers’ daily checks

The daily walkaround check is a vital part of any maintenance system, and so requires continuous monitoring to ensure the checks are being performed correctly. Electronic driver defect reporting systems can be effectively used to manage drivers’ walkaround inspections. Operators can also use tachograph analysis to monitor the time taken to carry out a walkaround check.

A way of monitoring the quality of the daily check is to have a visiting agent or competent in-house member of staff, to re-examine the vehicle as it leaves or enters the operating centre. The inspection result can be checked against the driver’s defect reports to ensure the driver’s check is of sufficient quality. Another approach could be to use the safety inspection. The person carrying out the safety inspection could note which defects found should have been detected during the driver’s daily walkaround check. A review of the driver defect reports could be performed, and appropriate action should be taken to establish why the defects were not detected during the walkaround check.