Disturbing drivers

Nov 16 2007 by Andrew Baldwin, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

ROAD safety charity Brake has revealed disturbing details about foreign drivers on Britain’s roads.

Their number has risen substantially in recent years and one in seven of the heaviest vehicles in the UK at any one time is now a left-hand drive foreign vehicle – around 14,000 vehicles every day.

Concern has been expressed at the operating standards of many foreign lorries and UK enforcement agencies have found increasing numbers carrying roadworthiness faults, being overloaded and with drivers exceeding their allowable hours at the wheel.

In the main, they can operate outside our laws with impunity, knowing that the DVLA computer in Swansea is not linked to any computer abroad.

Not only is it unfair, but it is their law-breaking that puts others in danger.

On motorways there are special problems involving foreign vehicles and the driver’s visibility on his right hand side – the side where, in the UK, he will be overtaken by a car.

Blind spots in this area often mean that when such a vehicle moves across the road from the inside lane, the driver fails to see anyone in the other lanes.

The obvious message for British drivers must be to take care to allow plenty of space when in the vicinity of heavy lorries and to be alert to their special needs, particularly at junctions and roundabouts.

As for the law-breaking, it is a problem which demands European-wide action.