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22/02/2013 12:53
EU taking countries to court over driving rules

The European Commission plans to take Austria, Poland and Finland to the EU Court of Justice, as all three nations have failed to implement laws that govern driving hours in the transport sector.

In 2010, the EU issued a new directive that places a limit on the number of hours that professional motorists can stay behind the wheel.

The average maximum weekly working time was set at 48 hours over a four-month period and firms were banned from allowing their employees to work for any longer than 60 hours in any given week.

These regulations were introduced in order to boost road safety across the continent, as many fatal accidents occur because of tired and overworked HGV drivers.

However, Austria, Poland and Finland have still not applied the directive in its entirety.

As well as endangering other road users, this gives logistics firms in these countries an unfair advantage over companies in other parts of Europe that do adhere to the EU's regulations.

Tachographs are now routinely used to make sure workers do not exceed their allocation of working hours.