VOSA's targeted traffic enforcement drives up road safety

Unsafe lorries that have been taken off the roads have increased by nearly a third (27%) over the last three years, according to the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA).

The results of the Agency's targeted roadside enforcement programme also revealed that 35% more prohibitions have been served on vehicle operators over the same period as a result of drivers' hours exceeding legal limits.

In October this year VOSA carried out one of its biggest ever clampdowns on dangerous vehicles with checks at 97 different locations across the country. The five-day national clampdown, code-named Operation Boston, was the start of a national campaign introducing the Agency's new capability to provide roadside presence across Britain on a 24/7 basis, targeting vehicles and drivers that break the law.

The 24/7 capability, which was further strengthened by £24m extra funding from the Department for Transport (DfT), has been facilitated by smart, intelligence-led modern technology, including Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) linked with Weigh in Motion Sensors (WIMS), and a device that links directly to operator databases and highlights those at risk of non-compliance. Through these technologies VOSA has been able to stop the right vehicles and avoid unnecessary delays and downtime for those who are compliant operators.

For the first time, we have service-level agreements with all the major trade associations, with whom we review our performance quarterly. This transparency and dialogue is seen as an important underpinning for raising standards of service and road safety across the industry as a whole.

There has been similar success with the computerisation of the car MoT Scheme, which won the 2008 Government award for Operational Delivery. The scheme has led to a significant reduction in fraud and seen the number of cars with the wrong test result on our roads reduce this year by about 5%.

Stephen Tetlow, Chief Executive of VOSA, who last week announced that he will be leaving the organisation in the early New Year to join the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, said: "Targeted enforcement to make our roads safer has been one of the major success stories of VOSA over the last few years. The figures speak for themselves. Our prohibition rates have increased markedly for UK and international vehicles (up from 27% to 38%; and from 35% to 47% respectively in the last three years), with the proportion of safe, law-abiding vehicles we inconvenience at road side checks significantly reduced.

During Operation Boston we targeted more high risk vehicles than ever before, carrying out over 3,600 vehicle checks and issuing nearly 1,900 prohibition notices. We are already ahead of target to double the amount of unsafe vehicles we take off the roads next year and we will be adding some 200 new enforcement staff to the organisation."

VOSA is also about to embark on a major consultation programme with the commercial vehicle industry on fee and infrastructure changes to testing and inspecting Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) and Public Service Vehicles (PSVs).

The focus will be on an increase in fees and a shift to privately run, VOSA-authorised test stations to achieve the delivery of the Agency's modernisation programme, which is designed to offer services to its customers that are fit for the 21st century, and in doing so bring them more choice and value.

Tetlow commented: "The fact is that our testing stations were built in the 1960s and the industry has moved on significantly since then. Over the last four years we have invested £47m on the refurbishment of our estate, which has resulted in the rebuilding of 10 new test stations. In the same period the Agency has invested £33m in a range of electronic services.

Already our customers are seeing a significant return on the investment. The modernisation of our testing facilities has helped reduce test times by an average of 18 minutes, thereby decreasing downtime during the test by some 20% for our customers.

The move to VOSA-authorised test stations run by the Private Sector with VOSA inspectors provided under contract is part of our strategy to bring testing closer to the customer. We plan to replace as many of our own test stations as possible. VOSA staff will continue to provide independent, regulated tests, backed by a contract with the operator, and with new investment in IT to improve our services further."

On Tetlow's departure, Jim Fitzpatrick, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Transport, said: "He has accomplished a lot and set the vision and direction for VOSA. We are naturally disappointed to lose him."