Category Archives for Professional Driver

Drivers could be faced with pay-per-mile road charging and other fresh levies to plug a £40 billion financial black hole caused by the mass advent of electric cars, which are currently exempt from road tax and generate no fuel duty revenue.

Money to burn - Don't throw it away. 

Thousands of drivers could find themselves stuck with a hefty fine if they fail to declare medical conditions to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).

Whilst some conditions are more of a given, such as epilepsy and heart conditions, others are rather less obvious.

Eating disorders and Déjà vu also make the list of illnesses that should be declared to avoid being slapped with a £1,000 fine.

Drivers who cause death when looking at their mobile phoneswill face life in jail for the first time under Government plans to be revealed on Monday.

In a major hardening of sentencing guidelines, ministers will propose raising the upper limit of imprisonment for dangerous drivers who kill from 14 years to a lifetime.

It is designed to send a “clear message” that people who cause “immeasurable pain” to families with reckless driving should be given a “punishment that fits the crime”.

Until 2015, drug driving was the ‘safe’ option by some motorists. That doesn’t mean they necessarily thought they were in a fit state to get behind the wheel, it just means that perhaps thought they wouldn’t get caught.

Road rage is a common problem on UK roads. A recent poll of 3,000 people found that nearly one in five road users are threatened with physical violence each year.

In a separate study, 22 percent of motorists claimed to have got out of their car to argue with another driver in a road rage incident.

The dangers of texting while driving is well-known, but a new study found that it’s not the only dangerous distraction. 

Researchers from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that two-thirds of drivers are distracted in the seconds before a driving accident occurs. 

Celluphones were the most common cause, but drivers were also distracted by reading or writing, reaching for something or using a touchscreen on their dashboard.

Distraction when driving can be a dangerous activity, this has been covered within a previous article and within the CPC course.  Its rather surprising to find DIY within this list of distractions but I have been guilty of day dreaming when I hear on the radio about a person winning the lottery, and by the end of the journey, I have successfully spent the winnings a dozen times over on various activities and joint business ventures.

Many professional drivers will have their own views on Marijuana (cannabis) and its recreation usage. I had previously looked at the effects it had on mental health and the research study found that psychotic behaviour’s indents were more prevalent in young adults using this drug.

Introduction to obstructive sleep apnoea

This briefing arose from a campaign by Unite lorry drivers in the North East of England who wanted to raise awareness about obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) for professional drivers.

Feeling tired at work may be for a variety of reasons, not necessarily because they are suffering from OSA, and they should seek advice from their GP.

Proper and early diagnosis of any condition along with appropriate medical treatment from the NHS is essential for members' continued health at work. Seeking medical advice is also important to ensure that professional drivers can comply with the DVSA medical standards - self-diagnosis is not a suitable option.