Government New "Road Safety Strategy"

The Department for Transport have recently published the Road

Safety Strategy with the aim of reducing the number of people

killed or seriously injured on roads in Great Britain by 65% before

2035, (using 2022-2024 as a baseline).

We have been working with the DfT as agricultural

representatives for all-sized trailers, by increasing awareness of

trailer towing through the work of our dealerships and

independent technicians, which has bought trailer safety to the

forefront of government policy.

Part of the strategy focusses on trailer and towing safety

including maintenance, the lack of which contributes excessively

towards collision statistics.

Within this strategy are steps to ensure roadworthiness and load

security, including working with the industry to publish

recommended maintenance standards for agricultural trailers.

The trailer-specific section of the strategy can be found below,

along with a link to the document itself. This strategy marks the

beginning of policy and enforcement changes by the DfT.

We are running courses for Safe Loading and Unloading of Plant,

Dangerous Goods Safety Awareness and IBC Bowsers Pressure

Testing and Inspecting with Mark Skinner CAT AMIMI in

conjunction with Rural Skills UK. With the increased attention

towards towing, we would like to connect farmers, contractors

and operators with the resources to improve towing safety.“Department for Transport - Road Safety Strategy

Trailer and towing safety:

In Great Britain, there are a number of vehicles and trailer types

that are frequently operated in an unsafe or non-compliant

manner in terms of roadworthiness, loading and driver skills78.

Some of these are for personal use, such as caravans and light

trailers. However, there are a number of vehicles operated in an

unsafe manner which do not require operator licences, such as

vans, pick-ups and their trailers, despite being used

commercially.

To improve driver skills and competence, the government will

explore the benefits and feasibility of financial incentives for

voluntary training, and awareness raising on trailer and towing

safety. The government will also take the following actions to

ensure roadworthiness and load security:

• work with industry to develop and publish recommended

maintenance standards for light trailers, LGVs and agricultural

trailers

• refine the DVSA’s approach to enforcement to target operators

of LGVs and trailers who don’t have robust systems to ensure

safety

• launch an industry-led communications package on load

security and roadworthiness

• explore the case for a wider safety review of LGVs”

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/road-safety-strategy