Road Safety Authority has commercial vehicles in its sights

New technology to detect drivers of commercial vehicles and cars who may be in breach of the law is being piloted by the Road Safety Authority.

Information on hundreds of cars, including private cars, has been captured by automated number-plate recognition at checkpoints across the country as part of the project.

The authority said its watch list would initially target vehicles with an out-of-date certificate of roadworthiness. It would also be used in the future to detect where drivers had exceeded their permitted hours behind the wheel.

Checkpoints have operated at a number of locations around the country including Naas and Portlaoise on the N7; the N17 in Galway; the N2 in Co Monaghan; the Athy Road in Kilcullen, Co Kildare; Hackettstown, Co Carlow; and Callan, Co Kilkenny. They have have also operated in Donegal, Cavan and Ballina.

The ongoing pilot project, which began last year, has captured information on more than 200 vehicles which it considers were not roadworthy, according to documents released under the Freedom of Information Act.

Legislation

Under 2012 legislation the Road Safety Authority is charged with monitoring the compliance of commercial vehicles that are subject to the CVR (commercial vehicle roadworthiness) scheme.

Separately, it can also carry out roadside tests for compliance with the rules governing drivers’ hours, tachograph, and rest breaks.

Computer system

Images of the registration plate of each vehicle that passes a camera operating for the pilot project are transmitted to the authority’s computer system. If the commercial vehicle is on the authority’s watch list a notification is sent to roadside inspectors via their smartphone. They can then attempt to stop the vehicle for inspection.

The authority says it will also disclose the information, where necessary, to the Garda for investigation. It insists that under the project’s privacy policy any data captured on private cars is “irretrievably deleted”.

The authority said regular operational enforcement meetings were held between it and An Garda Síochána regarding enforcement of commercial vehicle testing. In a submission to the Government last year, the authority said it favoured sharing of cameras that were already in use along many national routes by the National Roads Authority.