cav551:
The weigh in motion sensors could well come back to bite the planners in a way they didn’t think of. The whole bus industry etc. assumes that a passenger weighs 63.5 kgs, multiply that by the number of passengers and add to the unladen weight of the vehicle. This then comes inside the 16.5 - 18 tonnes or whatever, maximum vehicle weight; but frequently only just inside. Do the calculations again on a more realistic assumption of passenger weight, install the WIMS system in London particularly and the result could very well be extremely interesting.
Same could apply to concrete mixers; Chassis getting heavier, and judging from the shrinking water tanks being fitted to new ones, only a matter of time before an 8m3 high slump load puts a wagon over 32t.
Its definitely coming in one form or another although it doesn’t currently exist in current tacho heads despite what you hear in RDC waiting rooms. Makes you wonder about data protection though
hammer:
Once everyone has digital tachos I can see each operator having to send VOSA their digitach data after a given period for each vehicle, say a month (assuming they haven’t sucked it out the tacho as the truck goes past). There will be no getting away with it then, as the onus will be on the operator to prove his innocence, not VOSA catching you being a naughty boy.
Am I missing something cos I cant see a problem with this.
It may also help members like Kemaro who’s boss has only recently realised there are speed limits.
Stay within the law, what have you got to worry about?
Its easy to make glib “stay within the law” type statements but it depends on your definition of straying outside the law. Fine if you drive 14hrs a day and never stop but what about minor infringements? In a years worth of tachos I’ll probably stray a couple of minutes over when I need a 45 maybe 3 or 4 times. At the moment, I’d have to be pretty unlucky to get found out and even then even the most zealous VOSA bod will probably go easy if its a few minutes.
However, if you had to send them your data and prove your innocence all the time you might find yourself in trouble for going 3 or 4 minutes over. Even if they didn’t prosecute, it would go on your record.
