CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
It seems the Scottish parliament has (temporarily?) relaxed rules on the length of time drivers delivering fuel can be on the road. So. At a time when the roads are a little more dangerous, requiring a bit more thought, we've got some slightly more tired drivers on the go in charge of large vehicles.
Hmmmm.
Where's Splitshift? Need an expert view on this.
Hard to say without seeing the detail, however without a relaxation you could easily get the situation for example where driver Bloggs goes out to Mrs Miggins farm in the borders to deliver fuel (and her neighbours), instead of his run taking the usual 7 hours or so it hits 9 hours driving and he's still on his way back due to the conditions, not much later he runs out of daily hours...
He may still feel fine to drive but not legally be able to, he should now pull in and take his mandatory daily rest, but where?? The verge is piled with snow, as are the layby's, a Police officer could maybe authorise him to carry on until he reaches a safe stopping place, but there are none about... so he's left to break the law (endangering his job) or block the road. Or call base if he has that facility to ask another vehicle to risk the conditions and bring *another* driver out to bring the truck back, assuming another driver is available...
To avoid this the company must double man the trucks, halving the number of deliveries they can do.
Or just not deliver to the difficult locations..
I'm all for drivers hours, imo they should apply to ALL business vehicles/drivers, but in these (exceptional) conditions imho it makes sense to allow a little slack.
http://www.roadtransport.com/RoadLegal/11936/eu-drivers-hours-law-explained.html explains the hours laws in straightforward terms.
....and some think being an hgv driver is simple ;-)
Just on R4 News (so not just Scotland)
'fuel and oil, food for livestock and de-icing fluid for aircraft.'
M here !Not sure about the exact nature of relaxations but I am sure that they will alow extended days work, not extended driving time ! problems arrise when vehicles are stuck,if the road is then cleared then the vehicle has to move, but if driver has used his daily hours then he /she cannot move without the express instructions from a uniformed police officer, whoms number and name the driver must have, and the police officer must also sign his print out, or tacho disk ,dependant on age of vehicle,this exemption, relaxation allows the movement without the signing of potentially hundreds of tachographs. Initially the exemptions are for livestock and fuel movements but lately I have heard that they may be extended to cover foodstufs so I will prob need to look further.! I havnt been on the road all last week, working in the yard so havnt really been paying attention. As long as I can get home at night ! sleepin in a lorry might look like smoky and the bandit but the reality is somewhat less romantic ! Dirty, smelly rubbish toilet facilities,no family interaction and no double glazing ! You hear every other vehicle on the road !
And now on mobiles ;)
http://www.newsbiscuit.com/2010/12/07/call-to-end-nanny-state-restrictions-on-truckers-mobile-use/
Hi all, Ive been without interwebthing lately, no matter as ive been workin mostly. Restricion relaxation actually only allowed one hour extra driving that week. In any week, on 3 occasions a driver may extend his/her driving time by one hour. As the gov allowed this extension on 4 days, only one hour was added. This might not be the full extent of the relaxation it is as far as my employer was concerned the only additional driving we could do.The drivers working week is from 00.00 hrs monday morning until 23.59 sunday night. The motorway network has been and still is in a dreadfull condition.A jackknife lorry isnt just a wee inconvenience for the driver, it is probably loss of job, driving charges or at the worst, death. Every hgv on the roads over this period has been forced onto the road by over zealous transport managers and company directors. For this read very large responsible,people friendly companies.
Digital tachographs mean that every time a driver drives over his hours, ie while on the A80, M8,M9 for 20 hours then an electronic infringment is generated,this remains on your digital record for weeks, sometimes months. My car has driven 6 miles in the last 2 weeks,walking and cycling whenever poss. Off work this weekend so heres hoping the ochills are still white !
Keep smiling !
:-/ sympathies. It's why I have a boring badly paid office job instead :-/
95% of the year, delivering to motherwell or maryhill its just a badly paid, mobile office job ! At least the scenery changes. Stunning deer in cemetery near Bishopbriggs yesterday. Wildlife can make a rubbish day almost pleasant !
I do miss bits of it, but if I foul up I get a row and maybe it costs the boss a few quid, if you foul up you may kill people, destroy a 100 grand wagon, lose your job etc etc.
Anyway, that's too negative! Enjoy the changing views and the good bits and I hope you get easy runs and decent weather into the festive season! :)
You must log in to post.
Cycling in Edinburgh Flickr group
Video embedded using Easy Video Embed plugin
posts