All bus and truck driver licence holders in the 27 EU member states are now covered by the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) requirements. Briefly, the system was introduced in 2008 for bus drivers and the following year for truck drivers in an attempt to improve the standards of driving among bus and truck drivers.

Previously, there was no EU-wide requirement for drivers who had passed the bus or truck test to undertake any further training. This meant that they could pass their truck or bus test and drive for the rest of their working life without any further training. Diesel engines and transmissions have changed greatly over the past 25 years, as have vehicle loading systems, drivers hours recording systems and many other aspects of large vehicle driving. Drivers cannot be expected to perform better if training about such changes is not part of their working life.

Driver CPC training is designed to cover three specific areas: safe and fuel-efficient driving, legal requirements and health and safety. All bus and truck licence holders, with some exceptions, are required to undertake 35 hours of training in each five- year period throughout the time that they hold their bus or truck licence.

Mercedes-Benz recently organised a Driver CPC training session with Crydel Training in the UK, covering rollover prevention and skid control. Apart from giving participants seven hours of training towards their Driver CPC requirements, some of the techniques taught are equally applicable to car and light CV drivers.

Volvo Trucks has gathered some statistics on accidents involving trucks in Western Europe and found that 55% to 65% of those killed or seriously injured in heavy truck accidents are car occupants and 15% to 25% of victims are unprotected road users, i.e. pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. Around 20% of heavy truck accidents occur during the night. Of those accidents involving heavy trucks in Western Europe, where road users are killed or seriously injured, Volvo’s analysis suggests that some 45% include a rollover.

Statistics presented by Crydel Training during the course suggested that in the UK, rollover accidents are increasing, with around 700 to 1,200 occurring each year, compared with 300 to 700 in 2000. The reasons given for the increase include a switch to tri-axle tractor units, with the adoption of higher weight limits for trucks, a greater number of double-deck trailers, more powerful engines and the increasing number of traffic lights on roundabouts.

Most of these are peculiar to the UK. Two-axle tractor units are more common in mainland Europe, for instance, while double deck trailers are rare outside the UK, because most other EU countries impose a 4.0m height limit for trucks, while the UK has no height limit. While other countries use roundabouts at road junctions, the UK’s high traffic density has encouraged the use of traffic lights on roundabouts with high traffic volumes. The suggestion is that drivers tend to accelerate when they see an amber light, in an attempt to drive through before the light turns to red. Truck drivers doing that may carry too much speed into the roundabout, causing the truck to tip over. Most trucks that roll over on roundabouts in the UK tend to do so on a right-hand exit. For most other EU countries that drive on the right side of the road, rollovers on roundabouts tend to occur on a left-hand exit. In both cases, this is where the truck takes the tightest turn for longest around the roundabout. It may be some distance from the roundabout before the truck rolls over.

The three greatest factors affecting a rollover are speed, the vehicle’s centre of gravity and the turning radius. To demonstrate how little warning a truck driver might get of a roll over, Crydel Training showed us and gave us the opportunity to drive a truck with a trailer fitted with large stabiliser wheels. The truck was a tri-axle Mercedes Actros tractor unit with a liquid tanker semi-trailer, loaded to create maximum instability.

We were asked to drive in a circle at a speed where we felt comfortable, which for most was at around 18km/h. Then we were asked to increase the speed gradually until the trailer passed its tipping point. This could be with as little increase in speed as 5km/h. More disconcerting was the absence of warning from the vehicle that a rollover was about to occur. The first most of us knew was when the semi-trailer tipped over onto the stabiliser wheels, which on the road would have turned the truck and trailer over onto its side.

To guard against a rollover on a roundabout or curve, drivers should keep checking their mirrors and, if an inside trailer wheel starts to lift, brake hard and keep the pedal pressed. Truck drivers should always leave a roundabout slowly and not accelerate until the complete vehicle is in a straight line.

Car drivers who have taken the UK Institute of Advanced Motorists driving test are taught not to stay alongside a truck for any length of time. That may be difficult in congested, slow-moving traffic, where roll over risks are lower, but that is clearly good advice in highway driving when trucks are travelling at maximum speed.

While spending as little time as possible alongside trucks at speed is the car driver’s safest option, many of the skid control techniques demonstrated on a low grip wet surface on the course can be used by car drivers to try and regain control in a skid.

The first thing is to be aware of the conditions. The factors affecting a skid are speed, road condition, weight and road gradient. It is not surprising that at higher speeds, it is easier to lose control, or more difficult to regain it if you need to take avoiding action.

A number of factors affect road conditions including the type of surface and weather. Concrete road surfaces offer some of the best levels of grip, but these have fallen out of favour because of the associated high levels of road noise. High grip asphalt surfaces are often used at roundabouts and road junctions, but some asphalt surfaces can offer comparatively low grip characteristics. Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA) is widely used on European roads. The surface has been blamed for accidents because it could offer low levels of grip, even in the dry, particularly soon after the surface has been laid.

Most drivers know that weather conditions directly affect grip. Stopping distances are two times longer on a wet road compared with a dry surface. In ice and snow, stopping distances can increase by as much as 10 times, compared with a dry surface. When rain falls on a dry surface, grip is reduced to 30% of that in the dry, as a thin film of grease will have accumulated on the dry surface from tyres and other deposits from vehicles.

We drove Mercedes-Benz Actros tractor units for the skid control demonstrations but the same techniques can be used to try and regain control when driving a car or light CV. If you need to swerve to avoid an obstruction on a low-grip surface, first brake in a straight line. Then steer to avoid the obstruction but use as small a steering angle as possible to avoid losing control. Since most cars are fitted with ABS brakes or ESC electronic stability control, ABS or ESC will allow you to keep braking while steering in most cases, although be prepared to release the brakes if necessary to give improved steering control. If you are driving a vehicle with a manual gearbox, press the clutch at the same time as the brake, because otherwise the driving wheels will tend to lock up in braking and counter the effects of ABS or ESC. Vehicles with an automatic or automated gearbox will normally disengage drive under heavy braking, but neutral can always be selected, if in doubt.

Vehicle weight will affect stopping distances, because it will inevitably take longer to stop a heavier weight. A badly loaded commercial vehicle would be less stable and could also contribute to a loss of control. Not surprisingly, gradient will affect stopping distances, increasing them downhill and reducing them uphill.

Driver CPC Training: Is it working?

Improving road safety and reducing road accidents in Europe is one of the objectives of the EU and the Driver CPC was designed to help bring that about. Truck drivers who held a licence before 10 September 2009 have until 10 September 2014 to complete their first 35 hours of training. Many drivers and employers are looking for low-cost solutions to training and the course I attended, organised by Crydel Training, costs around €530 per trainee for the day.

The company has been offering the course for some years but has seen demand fall since the Driver CPC was launched because cheaper courses that do not involve driving will satisfy the Driver CPC training requirements, even though the only way a driver can learn how to deal with such situations is by experience in a vehicle in or simulator.

The International Road Transport Union carried out research last year into the Driver CPC and found a range of issues. One is that periodic training carried out in other EU Member States is not necessarily accepted in all Member States. Similarly training carried out ‘in-house’ by employers is not accepted in all Member States. The research found variations in the quality of training between Member States. The IRU research also found that the cost of training varied greatly and in some countries the driver is expected to pay for the whole cost of the training.

No doubt the Driver CPC will continue to be developed – accident statistics will offer one measure of effectiveness. Perhaps there should be a points system awarded to courses instead of the simple requirement to attend 35 hours’ training in five years – effectively one day per year. If practical or driving simulator-based courses that are more expensive earned a driver more points than classroom-based training that costs less, it might be a greater incentive for drivers to learn these life-saving skills.