Filenews 13 October 2021 - by Michalis Hadjivasilis
In turn, lorry and bus drivers are complaining about illegalities on the roads. Within twelve hours of checks, 348 complaints were made, one third of which concerned the non-use of tachographs.
As it is found, drivers mainly of trucks but also on a smaller scale of buses, deactivate the tachographs to run more than the allowed duration, while at the same time the hours of use of these heavy vehicles are not recorded. According to the road safety officer at the Traffic Department of the Police Headquarters, George Miles, 127 of the 348 complaints related to the non-use of tachographs, 77 related to speeding, 36 to non-use a seat belt and the others concerned various illegalities. The campaign, which is pan-European, will last a week and is being carried out in cooperation with the TMM and the labour inspectors.
The aim of the whole effort, according to Mr. Miles, is to reduce serious and fatal injuries in road collisions. According to the Traffic Police, the chances of causing serious or even fatal injuries in cases of road collisions involving trucks or buses are increased, mainly due to the size of such heavy vehicles, but also due to the peculiarities of their driving. That's why, for driving trucks and buses, it is required to have a special driving license, after specialized training.
There is an increased risk of serious and fatal injuries in road collisions due to the load usually carried by trucks, either because of the characteristics of the load, or because of its incorrect positioning and transport. The risk of carrying a load does not arise only in the event of a traffic collision.
The danger exists also from the transport of cargo itself, since its unsafe transport may, in case of movement or even fall, be the cause of a traffic collision, endangering the physical integrity, even the life itself, of persons moving on the road network, as well as of the occupants themselves.
