West Yorkshire Police has been leading on a pilot scheme to reduce the number of insecure loads being carried on the roads in a bid to reduce disruption and potential collisions from shed loads.
The force has been working in partnership with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Highways England and the Driver Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) in training roads policing officers in tackling insecure loads on the regions roads.
The pilot scheme has been trialled in West Yorkshire. So far 24 roads policing officers have received training.
In the six months prior to the first officers being trained by the HSE, a total of 45 fixed penalty notices were issued in relation to load offences. In the first three months since the training, 90 fixed penalty notices have been issued.
Superintendent Roger Essell, of West Yorkshire Police’s Operations Support, said: “By working in partnership with the DVSA, Highways England and HSE we are all aiming to make West Yorkshire’s roads safer.
“We hope by having more officers trained, we can make sure that goods vehicle owners comply with the regulations and drive safely on our roads around the region.
“Figures show there’s an average of 750 call-outs to debris on West Yorkshire’s motorway network every year. Some of these are a simple clean up taking a matter of minutes but others can lead to the motorway being closed for a number of hours.
“Through education and enforcement we can make HGV owners comply with the regulations and ultimately make our roads safer.”
Due to the success of the pilot scheme, Dee Collins, Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police, and Martin Temple, Chair of the HSE, have agreed to continue the training and make tackling insecure loads part of police day-to-day business.
A HSE spokesperson said: “Working together with the police, Highways England and DVSA, we can achieve a lot more than working on our own. Load security is a priority within our logistics and transport strategy and raising the standards found, will improve safety for not only the drivers, but also those who have to take off loads, and other road users.”
Laura Great Rex, DVSA National Enforcement Delivery Manager, added: “DVSA’s priority is to protect everyone from unsafe drivers and vehicles.
“Load security is vitally important. An insecure load can affect a vehicle’s stability and in severe cases the load can fall onto the road, endangering other people using the road.
“By working together with the police, Highways England and HSE, we are reducing the number of dangerous vehicles on Yorkshire’s roads.”
Mike Higgins, from Highways England’s Commercial Vehicle Incident Prevention Team, said: “Safety is Highways England’s number one imperative, and we are pleased to work in partnership with West Yorkshire Police, HSE and DVSA in aiming to deliver a real improvement to road safety in the Yorkshire.
“Insecure loads pose a significant risk to the travelling public and to those police officers, Highways England traffic officers and road workers who have to pick up the debris or deal with the resulting collisions. We look forward to the results of this team work and if successful, replicating this way of working in more areas across the country.”
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