In 2016/17 DVSA made nearly 90,000 checks to ensure that commercial drivers weren’t driving for longer than allowed, risking fatigue-related accidents. The outcome is that more than 1 in 20 (5.3%) of drivers had broken the rules on maximum driving hours. British drivers are also slightly more law abiding than foreigners, with 5.1% of British drivers flouting the rules against 5.9% of their foreign counterparts.
It’s worth noting that the figures has fallen since 2015/16, when the overall offending rate was 7.3%.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) have gone on record saying that “driving while tired may be responsible for 1 in 5 of all accidents, as well as up to a quarter of serious and fatal crashes on Britain’s roads.” According to THINK!, almost half of sleep-related accidents involve commercial vehicles, and almost a quarter of injuries from accidents involving lorries are fatal or serious, compared to 1 in 8 of all crashes.
As of March 5th, the DVSA has been issuing Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN) of £300; not just for drivers’ hours offences committed on the day that drivers are checked, but for up to 5 offences committed over the preceding 28 days.
