Road safety at stake

TLN has observed a sharp annual increase in the use of tractors on public roads. Not only for traditional agricultural purposes, where distances are becoming longer due to land consolidation and larger plots, but also for construction and infrastructure work, such as earthmoving. Tractors are therefore a daily occurrence, even in busy city traffic. Compared to trucks, however, these tractors are hardly required to meet any quality and safety requirements and are not subject to registration. These ‘trucking tractors’ thus operate outside the view of the police and judicial authorities and are not checked for speeding or overloading, for example. Every year, there are around 16 fatalities and 100 injuries in traffic accidents involving tractors. "A tractor with a trailer used for goods transport has similar dimensions and weights to a large truck with a trailer, easily reaches speeds of 60 km/h, even though the legal speed limit is only 25 km/h, and travels dozens of kilometers on public roads. This means that it must be possible to enforce the rules accordingly, and a license plate is absolutely essential for this," says TLN chairman Alexander Sakkers.

Unfair competition

For years, TLN has been concerned about tractors being used for commercial goods transport, but until now, there has never been a majority in the House of Representatives willing to introduce mandatory registration for tractors. According to TLN, the House made an important decision yesterday. "Tractors have been proven to be less safe in traffic, but due to a lack of adequate requirements and regulations, they can be used much more cheaply than trucks for the same work on the same roads. This unfair form of competition is fueled by the government because there are no adequate rules and requirements for tractors." The dump truck sector alone loses around 10% of its turnover annually due to unfair competition from tractors. And it is precisely in the construction and infrastructure sector that many transport companies are struggling. According to TLN, mandatory registration is an important step that contributes to adequate supervision of the widespread uncontrolled use of tractors.

SOURCE:  Bloembollen Visie