The government should establish a system to record traffic violations and accidents committed by professional drivers to address issues caused by “gray-fleet” drivers, the Taiwan Transportation Safety Board said yesterday.
Gray-fleet drivers work for freight cargo companies, but drive their own vehicles.
The board said that it had become concerned about gray-fleet drivers after an unlicensed truck driver who was speeding in August last year killed three environmental protection volunteers.
An investigation found that the driver had worked overtime for three consecutive days prior to the accident, and had consumed energy drinks to try to stay awake.
The investigation listed drunk driving, fatigue, speeding and driving without a license as the four main factors contributing to the accident.
It cited transport companies not having access to all of the information about their drivers or effectively overseeing drivers’ behavior as indirect factors.
An average of 194 accidents happened annually between 2011 and last year involving cargo transport operators — twice the number of accidents involving passenger transport services, the investigation found.
Overall, freight cargo drivers were found to have breached traffic regulations more frequently than passenger bus drivers, including driving without a license, driving while intoxicated and failure to follow traffic signs and signals, the board said.
Ken Wu (吳昆峰), an associate professor at National Chiao Tung University’s transportation and logistics management department, took part in the investigation as an adjunct board member.
The accident showed that the nation has an ill-functioning management system regarding gray-fleet cargo drivers, he said.
The gray-fleet system “is a common practice, but it makes it challenging for business operators to thoroughly enforce safety management measures. If they do not have full knowledge of these drivers and their driving records, problems such as speeding and driver’s fatigue become inevitable, and oversight agencies cannot conduct preventive inspections of cargo transport firms,” he said.
Records of traffic violations and work hours are stored in different places, which could result in business operators, insurance firms and oversight agencies missing crucial information about their drivers, he said.
The Directorate General of Highways said that it has adopted several steps to improve the management of freight transport operators.
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