Following an investigation by the Road Safety Authority (RSA), Keegan Quarries Limited, Trammon, Rathmolyon, Co. Meath appeared at Navan District Court on 17 June 2016.
The Court imposed a fine of €3000 in respect of the charges relating to tachograph records that were not in compliance with driver’s hour’s regulations and also required the company to meet the RSA costs of €890.
The RSA investigation revealed serious and systematic non-compliance by the company to download data from the driver’s tachograph cards and monitor driver’s hours as well as failures in respect of record keeping.
EU Tachograph Regulations require employers of drivers to download driver records each month. The clear purpose of the EU regulations is to place a responsibility on an employer to use tachograph records in order to prevent violations of the driver’s hours rules and to promote road safety. After driving for 4.5 hours, a break of at least 45 minutes is mandatory and this break can be distributed over the 4.5 hours.
The EU tachograph and driver’s hours rules are designed to protect against driver fatigue, which is a contributory factor in one in five driver deaths in Ireland and to protect the travelling public. The existence of these regulations and the detailed requirements designed to promote road safety, are widely known by employers of heavy goods vehicle drivers. Operators in breach of driver’s hour’s requirements are profiting from undercutting compliant operators and contributing to unfair competition in the road haulage industry.
The Road Safety Authority is working hard to make our roads safer. A more targeted approach towards enforcement is being implemented and those operators who are serially and seriously non-compliant are being targeted by the Authority and the Garda Síochána. The Authority wishes to minimise disruption to the most compliant operators. A stepped approach to enforcement is applied by the RSA and only the most serious cases are taken to Court.
