RSA.ie – What the laws say.

While drivers are responsible for how they drive, you as an employer have duties in helping to make driving for work safer.
Three sets of laws influence driving for work in Ireland:

• Road Traffic Laws: the Road Traffic Act 1961 and its later amendments influence driving on public roads in Ireland. The Gardai, sometimes in collaboration with the HSA, are responsible for enforcing road traffic laws and investigating collisions and fatalities.
• Health & Safety Laws: the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and associated regulations influence driving for work in Ireland. Other legislation may apply, such as Dangerous Goods Transport by Road and Construction regulations.

As an employer, you should be aware that directors may be prosecuted for a work-related road collision if it is proven they have not managed safety properly.  You have obligations in the following areas as an employer:

• Duty of care—you must take measures to assure that work-related journeys are safe, members of staff are able to drive safely, and all vehicles and associated equipment are fit for use. You should also be aware of your duty towards the safety of other road users and pedestrians affected by your drivers.
• Safe systems of work—you must put in place proper systems of work such as documented safe systems of work for securing vehicle loads. You must have a safety statement that identifies all possible hazards, assesses risks to your employees, and provides adequate controls to minimise risk.
• Information, instruction, and training—you should give your employees proper information and training to protect their safety, health, and welfare.

EU Rules on Driving say that you as an employer must:

• not expect employees to drive under conditions that are unsafe; this means drivers must obey the rules on driving time, breaks and rest periods and that their vehicles should be roadworthy and fit for use.
• never put pressure on a driver to complete a journey in a shorter amount of time than is needed or to use a vehicle that is not roadworthy.
• not enter into contracts with schedules that could endanger your drivers or other road users.

Hammerkopf Nest

As an example, whilst doing training in DRC, we had to use a route which included a very severe climb. It was loose, uneven and wet. We tried different techniques including the common one which is; brake, clutch, into reverse and release pedals, and we had safety implications. Vehicles immediately started to slide sideways as the driver was putting the vehicle into reverse. There was a large drop off on one side and vehicles were sliding toward it. So we went through the slower technique that relies on the three forms of braking and a key start. We had no sliding / loss of control whilst the procedure was carried out and on the descent back down to the base.

So. To the 200 series Land Cruiser. You can’t do a key start. The clutch has to be pushed in to start the engine. So again, under extreme conditions it may let you down.

They are great for taking the kids to school but don’t take one to the hills of DRC.

Within the last 6 months On Course was able to purchase another 4.5 acres of land adjoining their facility. This now brings our training facility up to a size of 27 acres. All of which is fenced for security and privacy.

Although we already carry out skid control training in our level 2 defensive driving and armoured vehicle courses, we plan to dedicate the majority of this new land for skid control training.

More photos of building up the Skid Control circuit can be found at +OnCourse.

Left Hand Drive Vehicles

Over the years one of the requests that have been made by students in their programme evaluations was that we should have LHD 4wd drive vehicles for them to use.

Over the last two years we have purchased 2 LHD drive 4wds. One Range Rover and one Land Rover Defender.  We are also looking at adding an automatic to our fleet.

Our training fleet now stands at 13 training vehicles.

On Board Cameras

Another string to our training that we have planned on developing over the years is to be able to record students doing aspects of our physical training and have the ability to play back whilst waiting for the next repetition.

We believe that this will helps students recognize their driving errors more effectively and therefore make it easier for them to self correct.

We have been able to purchase all of the relevant equipment and are at present making modifications to our training vehicles to easily transfer the equipment from one vehicle to another.

“They entice the drivers who in turn drive recklessly to impress them,” Mr Bazil Mugisha, the Commissioner Traffic. “Those who fail to comply will be arrested and their buses impounded,” said Mr Mugisha.

Its part of the festive season road safety initiative:

A link to the article can be found here.

I think that the 100 series Land Cruiser is one of the best 4wd vehicles ever built. The GX part time 4wd version is great.

It has the best compromise available of all time for off road capability, on road handling and executive luxury appeal. It is the only large 4wd vehicle that could be armoured without any modification to the chassis and still maintained quite good handling capabilities with only up rated brakes and suspension.

Organisations throughout the world bought them. The UN alone still has thousands of them scattered around the globe.

For the conditions found in developing countries, this fairly simply built and very reliable vehicle became an icon. Nicknamed in many countries for its status and appearance. In Uganda they call it the Balloon and in Sudan they call it Monica! Rounded and curvaceous it is. Some would even say sexy. Better than the 80 series, also an awesome vehicle.

The 200 Series

So what are these many organisations going to do when it’s time for new vehicles? Go for the 200 series?

If they are after “Bling,” then why not.  Good looking with loads of plastic spoiler to get spoilt and expensive to replace. Packed full of electronics, with fancy key entrance and related push button start.  Independent front suspension which in my opinion won’t last the harsh driving conditions let alone the harsh drivers found in lower income countries.

Picture being stuck in the middle of the Sahel with this vehicle failing to start? Or the electronic management system going down. A twin turbo V8 diesel.  Great if you want to nip down the Autobahn. But you don’t need that acceleration rate and speed knocking around most of sub Saharan Africa unless you want to end up on your roof. The 1HZ is a great engine even though doing the valve clearances are beyond the capabilities of most workshops. It has some low down grunt, not the whiz bang wheel spin ability of the V8.

What were they thinking?

For the life of me I cannot fathom the reasoning behind the decision to end the 100 series. The 76 series 5 door doesn’t come any where near replacing it.

So what have Toyota been doing over the past few years or so?  Produced a new Hilux that doesn’t come up to the mark.  Got rid of the old model Hilux which even with independent front suspension (one of the best of the rigid front suspension systems out there) had a fairly good off road capability and reliability. And drove well on unsealed roads as long as you banged it into H4.

Made the 5 door boxy station wagon 76 series.  This will appeal to the NGO and maybe UN market. I don’t like it. It reminds me of that horrible Land Cruiser II that they had back in the early 90s. Gone the rugged 75 series.  But there’s the 78 series now you say. Still it’s not as popular as the 75.  Those front coil springs aren’t really up to the job if you ask me. If you are going to coil a vehicle, do it all round with decent springs that don’t knock the bump stops out within a short time.  At least Land Rover got that one right!

What’s the Alternative Now?

So enter Nissan.  I predict that they will probably take over the developing country, NGO and UN market in the relatively near future.  They already have with peace keeping missions for instance.

The new Nissan Patrol GX model in station wagon and pick up models is not bad at all.  I did a comparison for a client between the Patrol GX and the 100 series GX and the Toyota model just came out in front on drivability and service back up in most of sub Saharan Africa.  But if I had to do the same now the Patrol would be streets ahead for simplicity reasons alone. You can still do the valve clearances with a spanner, screw driver and a set of feeler gauges.  And the fuel system can take some abuse from poor quality fuel. I’m not sure that this will be so with the 200. It has a simple, strong and fairly flexible live axle beam suspension system front and rear that can and does deal with the rigors of driving in harsh areas. It also has a fairly good off road capability with LSD fitted in the rear axle.

Also, they can supply a rugged, simple double cabin pick up that comes with a rear diff lock as standard. The J83 model. This vehicle drives well and is simple to maintain. It just don’t look as nice as the Hilux. No Bling!!

Both of these models are ideal for field work in harsh environments with Patrol giving that executive appeal as well.  But then some organisations are governed by policy. For instance one organisation I was speaking to recently will only buy vehicles that have ABS and SRS for safety reasons. Both the Nissan models I have been harping on about may not come with those systems fitted as standard but a driver can be taught to carry out an emergency braking technique that can equal and if not better ABS on unsealed roads. And if a driver is taught and practices correct defensive driving techniques he/she stands a better chance of not needing SRS which once deploys in a remote field setting may be difficult to reset!

Conclusion

I have to thank my dear departed Dad for the title. He gave me two bits of engineering advice before I left home to join up. 1) is the title and 2) is “tight is tight too tight is broke”. Use a torque wrench. This is one that definitely applies to my neck of the woods. After joining up I came across the KISS principle which to this day I still try to follow.

Come on Toyota there’s a huge market for simple 4wd vehicles in the developing world why make it more complicated than it should or has to be?

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Q: I have question about our Toyota Hiace: The Toyota started to overheat – I was told this happened because the water pump was leaking. In the end, not a cheap repair as the engine head developed a crack. Could this problem have been prevented if the driver was paying attention to the temp gauge?

A: Good to hear from you. Sad to hear of your troubles.

The leakage in the water pump can cause this problem if it goes unnoticed; this leads to a loss of coolant which then leads to an over heating problem. When an engine overheats it can cause cracking but the most common cause of cracking the head is pouring water on it when it’s red hot!

The problem was avoidable if the vehicle had correct pre driving inspections done to it and if the driver monitored the gauge. Saying that, if the thermostat had been taken out of the cooling system then the gauge could still read ok when the back end of the cylinder head gets hot.

Water pumps generally last quite a long time if coolant is run in the cooling system and the drive belt isn’t too tight. These are 2 common problems which occur in this region. So, run coolant, drive belt at the right tension, thermostat in place, correct pre driving inspections.

Cheers,
Mick