I NOTE with interest the call for safety checks for large cranes after the tragic deaths of Barry Copeland's wife and children in a crash on the A92 near St Cyrus in 2008 ("MOT call backed by bereaved father and husband", The Herald, December 12).
I fully support this request.
This was not the first fatality involving such a piece of equipment and I fear it will not be the last. There was a similar incident on the A82 Fort William road in recent years involving a large crane normally used for timber handling and extraction in local forests.
This vehicle was being moved between jobs and collided with a private car, killing one of the occupants. This machine was, to all intents and purposes, a truck chassis with a crane fitted to it. Due to its primary function being declared as that of a crane, it was exempt from the Annual Test, the equivalent of an MOT for HGVs. Had it still been a goods-carrying vehicle it would have been due testing. The evidence given in court indicated that the brakes were seriously defective and proper routine maintenance would have detected this, thus avoiding the fatality.
I believe a main reason for the exemption from testing still being in force is that the Government test stations would struggle to accommodate some of the larger cranes and other equipment. It is long past time that the question of exemptions for such as these and farm tractors, trailers and associated equipment was re-assessed.
The days of farm tractors being slow movers are long gone with fast tractors capable of high speeds. But the brake systems on the towed equipment are not up to the same speeds. I attended numerous serious collisions involving such machinery, examined them, gave statements and evidence and came to the conclusion that a major review of the rules and exemptions was long overdue.
At the very least a mandatory system of routine inspection and recorded resulting repairs should be instituted. This could be checked by the insurance company and be available for enforcement authorities to monitor as required.
I speak with the benefit of some 22 years' experience as a VOSA/VI Examiner. Our roads are becoming more and more crowded with vehicles at ever-higher speeds. Exemptions granted many years ago are no longer appropriate.
Allan Martin, Croft Croy, Farr, Inverness-shire.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article