Free safety kits for truck drivers

24 November 2010

Truckers visiting the A50 services in Shardlow received free safety kits from members of the road safety partnership recently.

Highways Agency staff gave the free packs to HGV drivers who visited the westbound Welcome Break services on Thursday 25 November.

Visitors to the Highways Agency’s HGV stand were also encouraged to:

• win free drinks and snacks by taking part in a safety quiz; and
• log onto the Highways Agency’s website for HGV drivers.

The HGV website - which forms part of the Highways Agency’s corporate website - is a one-stop-shop for truckers. It offers a range of journey planning tools and a wealth of advice about issues such as tail-gating, side-swiping, diesel spills, abnormal loads and fatigue. In order to help truckers from abroad, the information on the site is also available in French, German, Spanish and Polish.
To find the HGV site, log onto www.highways.gov.uk (opens in a new window) and type the phrase ‘HGV drivers’ into the search engine.

The free packs for truckers included a HGV safety checklist, a hi-vis tabard, a gauge for checking tyre tread and a foil blanket. 

Ian Malkin, the Highways Agency’s safety coordinator for the East Midlands, said: “There are too many crashes involving HGVs on the strategic road network managed by the Highways Agency. Between 2007 and 2009, HGVs were involved in 1,203 crashes on our roads where at least one person was killed or badly hurt.
“We hope that promoting our website for truck drivers will help to reduce the number of HGV crashes on our roads.”