Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) what steps they are taking to ensure that HGV drivers are not being asked to exceed their daily legal driving limits during the current driver shortage, (2) what record they are keeping of accident statistics involving HGVs, and (3) whether they have recorded an increase in the number of accidents involving HGVs in the past six months.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is responsible for enforcement of the HGV drivers’ hours rules, which includes checking that drivers are not exceeding their daily driving limits. For the period 12 July to 3 October, the DVSA undertook a total of 11,457 targeted checks across both UK and overseas based hauliers. 6,962 offences were identified for non-compliance with the drivers’ hours rules of which 2,286 were serious enough to warrant a fixed penalty. The vast majority (2,099) were committed by foreign hauliers, with only 187 fixed penalties for drivers’ hours offences issued to UK hauliers. Some DVSA enforcement has been targeted specifically towards operators using the drivers’ hours relaxation.
Data on reported road casualties reported to the police, including accidents involving HGVs, are collected through the STATS19 system and published in the Department’s reported road casualties statistics according to a regular annual timetable that reflects the time required for reporting, collation and validation of the data from police forces.
High-level provisional statistics for the first 6 months of 2021 are scheduled for publication in November; figures for the whole of 2021 are scheduled for publication in June 2022 (provisional) and September 2022 (final).