What are the rights and obligations of traffic officers when screening for overloading of trucks?

Question:

Can you please advise me on the rules and regulations on the distance and circumstances that a traffic officer can order a truck driver to drive to a weighbridge from a mat scale?

Answer:

A traffic officer is given certain powers in terms of the National Road Traffic Act – specifically in this case in terms of Section 3 I – ascertain the dimensions of, the load on, or the mass, axle mass load or axle unit mass load of, any vehicle, or the mass of any combination of vehicles, loaded or unloaded, and if necessary for the purpose of ascertaining such mass, require any vehicle or combination of vehicles to proceed to a mass-meter or mass-measuring device, and if the mass of any vehicle or combination of vehicles exceeds the mass allowed in terms of this Act, prohibit the operation of the vehicle or combination of vehicles on a public road until the mass has been reduced or adjusted to comply with this Act: Provided that where the load on a vehicle includes any hazardous substance as contemplated in the Hazardous Substances Act, 1973 (Act 15 of 1973), the reduction and handling of the mass shall be undertaken in terms of that Act;

There is NO condition in these powers as to the maximum distance (or length of journey) relating to the direction to weigh. This would be for practical reasons.

In most cases the vehicle would have been subjected to some version of screening process (which in most cases is not more than 2km away for control more than for concern over distance from multi-deck scales).

The circumstance is clear – the provision is to “ascertain such mass” – so the officer can direct any vehicle whether “overloaded or not”.

Regards

Gavin

;

Gavin Kelly Technical & Operations Manager Road Freight Association

What are the rights and obligations of traffic officers when screening for overloading of trucks?

Rights and wrongs of an insurance write-off

If someone tells you they’ve written-off their car, you can safely assume they’ve been involved in a fairly major incident – vehicle beyond repair, fit only for scrap, that level of magnitude.

Crashed Fiat Uno in 1990 – courtesy of Mark Hillary on Flickr.

But if you hear of a car being written-off by an insurance company, there’s a reasonable chance the car isn’t the twisted tangle of metal you might have envisaged.

Insurance companies are within their rights to write off a car even if it has suffered only relatively minor damage, perhaps a few scratches to the pain2rk or a small dent.

So where does that leave you? Is there anything you can do if you don’t agree with their diagnosis of the situation?

An inspector calls

Here’s how it works. If your car is involved in an accident and you put in a claim, an insurance assessor or engineer will normally come and inspect the damage.

The assessor follows strict criteria, but could judge your car to be a write-off if it is beyond ‘economical’ repair.

Note the word economical.

Inspecting the damage – courtesy of Dave Harrison on Flickr.

Insurers can declare a car to be a total loss, or write-off, if the repair bill is higher than the value of the vehicle before the accident.

So, if your car is worth £5,000 but the repairs cost £6,000, it will most likely be written off.

Letters of intent

There are 4 categories of write-off:

Category A is the most serious and means the car is fit only for scrap and should never again be driven.

Category B write-offs have suffered extensive damage. Again, they should never re-appear on the road, although some parts can be salvaged.

Category C write-offs could in theory be repaired, but the cost would exceed the value of the vehicle.

Category D write-offs are where the car could be repaired but the costs are deemed too high relative to the vehicle’s value.

The Association of British Insurers’ Salvage Code dictates that Category A and Category B cars are broken up for spares and the body shells crushed.

Write-offs in categories C and D can be sold on by the insurance company. They can then be repaired and put back on the road, as long as they pass a Vehicle Identity Check with the DVLA where necessary.

Theory of relativity

Category D write-offs tend to be the most contentious – this is where insurers can write off cars if they think the repairs are too costly relative to the value of the car.

They base their decision on the so-called repair-to-value ratio. For example, if your car is worth £4,000 and the repair-to-value ratio is 50%, the car would be written off if it would cost more than £2,000 to repair.

Different companies use different repair to value ratios, and you should be able to find out the figure from your own insurer.

Scratch and sniff

The repair-to-value calculation can result in what can seem surprising write-offs when the damage to a car is not particularly serious.

For instance, you might have reversed into your neighbour’s wall, scratching the pain2rk on your car. It might not look too bad, but if the repair involves the removal of panels, the cost could mount up, causing the insurer to declare the car a total loss.

This would be a category D write-off.

Write-off rules

Your insurer will offer a payout in the event of a write off, which should be enough to replace your car with a similar vehicle in a similar condition in your area.

Adams car care – courtesy of jellyspoon on Flickr

The company will, however, deduct the policy excess.

Let’s say your car is worth £10,000 and is written-off in an accident. The insurance company might offer a settlement of £10,000, less the excess of £300, to give you £9,700.

Check the cheque!

Insurers are sometimes a bit sneaky and offer low valuations, so it’s worth checking the amount is fair before you cash in any cheque.

You can look up prices for similar vehicles in motor trade guides, as well as browsing the local dealers. If you don’t think the insurer’s offer is a realistic reflection of the car’s value, contact the firm and use the evidence to back up your claim.

You can also include information on the service history and anything else that is likely to have an impact on the value. For example, you might recently have bought a new set of tyres.

Don’t forget that the payout is based on the value of the car immediately before the accident. You should not expect to receive the price you originally paid for the car.

Ombudsman option

If the insurer won’t budge on the size of the value it will pay, you can take your case to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), which is free and independent.

The FOS upholds about 50% of consumer complaints, so it’s often worth a try if you think you’ve got a valid case.

Rights and wrongs of an insurance write-off

Rights and wrongs of driving abroad

I’m a confident driver – when I’m in the UK, that is.

Truly, you can add South Africa to the list – along with Japan, Hong Kong and Australia and a couple of other locations. As lengthy as I’m on the left-hand side of the road, I’m absolutely fine.

But if I’m driving in a nation on the ‘wrong’ side of the road, sitting on the left and attempting to change gear with the door handle, it’s a totally diverse matter.

Keys to the highway

So you’ll appreciate that, when it came to contemplating a trip to the Florida Keys with my boyfriend Steve, the believed of hiring a car to get from island to island filled me with dread, even even though it was clearly the greatest transport choice for our holiday.

The coward’s way out would have been to get Steve to do all the driving. But, I convinced myself, that wouldn’t have been fair or especially empowering, would it?

So I determined to conquer my terror of driving on the appropriate hand side of the road. Oh, and did I mention I’ve by no means driven an automatic – car of selection in any US rental shop?

Child measures

Steve had driven in the States ahead of and was confident I could handle it, particularly if I eased myself into items on quieter roads. He agreed to tackle the city streets whilst I’d do the straights. So we booked our auto and planned a route from Orlando to Key West and back, via Miami.

You know how you devote the weeks ahead of a holiday fizzing with anticipation and excitement? Not this time. I’d get a queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach when I contemplated giant US highways, bewildering junctions, intimidating level-crossings, turning left across the oncoming site visitors, turning correct on a red light… the stuff of several sleepless nights!

Female gender fears fender benders

According to a survey by MoneySuperMarket’s sister firm, TravelSupermarket, 73% of women have in no way driven a employ auto abroad and 47% say they never will – so I’m clearly far from alone in worrying about driving on the appropriate.

Drilling deeper into the benefits, ladies who haven’t driven a employ vehicle overseas are 133% much more “terrified” of overseas driving than guys. Nearly every lady asked – that is 93% of the survey – is far more likely than a man to discover driving abroad “stressful”.

But here’s the funny point: women driving overseas are safer behind the wheel. Only 44% have had a auto accident compared to 57% of males. They’re also much less probably to get a fine in their employ vehicle, much less most likely to trigger damage to their employ vehicle and much less likely to break the rules of the road in the nation they’re visiting.

State of play

When we actually got to Florida, things nearly took a turn for the worse. Steve leapt at the chance to upgrade our Corolla to a luminous yellow Chevrolet Camero – rapidly dubbed the giant banana – that was a lot much more of a effective, sporty selection than I had deemed, even in the depths of a sleepless evening back home.

But I was hardly going to object, was I? It’s a gorgeous automobile, and we were going to be cruising the Keys, following all!

So, with a few turns around a giant ‘parking lot’ beneath my belt, off we went. And yes, there had been a couple of slightly anxious moments, and yes, I did discover my left hand reaching for a non-existent gearstick a couple of occasions (in an automatic as properly!), but it was generally fine. No bumps, scratches or tickets to report.

Self-confidence trick

I’ll let Steve give his side of the story: “At 1st I was a tad nervous, albeit primarily simply because Emma was apprehensive herself – not least due to the fact we had been driving a 3.6L Camaro muscle car on the ‘wrong’ side of the road! But she soon got to grips with it soon after a few subtle reminders about drifting and ‘giving it some gas.’

“From then on I was much far more relaxed. In the end she drove far more miles than I did, and grew fond of the massive old machine. She became a lot a lot more confident as time went on. In truth, she seemed to get pleasure from providing the Camaro the beans on our way back to the airport.

“Whisper it quietly, but she even crept up to 80mph…”

Cruise control

Of course, now I’ve got all the passion of a convert and I’m eager to get back out on the incorrect side of the road, either in the States or in Europe. I may possibly quaver a bit outside Paris or Rome, but with a bit of practice and a lot of determination, I’m confident I could manage it.

As for Steve: “Now that Emma has driven on the ‘wrong’ side of the road, I’m confident she’ll be a lot much more confident when she comes to do it again – even though roundabouts still need to be tackled! But I’d have no qualms about becoming Emma’s passenger if we employ a auto overseas in the future.”

Rights and wrongs of driving abroad