Quote: Originally posted by Colin21 on 29/1/2026
Why would anyone be interested in how many hours a leisure vehicle was being driven at a time?
Because some people will drive for hours on end to get to their destination, and a tired motorhome driver is as dangerous as a tired HGV driver.
That is very true, but why stop at motorhome drivers? Overtired car drivers are dangerous too, but would anyone think of fitting tachographs to cars? I think the idea of fitting tachos to leisure vehicles would be an absolute administrative nightmare. Would older motorhomes have to be retro-fitted? Would motorhome drivers all have to go on a course to learn all about drivers' hours and how to use a tacho? Would the tacho form part of the MOT test? I just can't see it happening.
A tired MH driver is more dangerous then than a car-caravan driver who depending on license restrictions can be driving an outfit up to 8.25T I believe! Even a car-caravan outfit to the more regular 3.5T limit is not to be trifled with!
Arguably a car-caravan outfit is a MORE dangerous vehicle, with less tolerance for inattentive driving than a rigid MH and should be targeted first!
If you start down the monitoring of private vehicle driving hours, there is no limit, even a solo car can be lethal, for that matter even the smallest motorcycle if it causes a domino effect accident!
There really is no 'standard' driving time limit that makes real sense under normal circumstances for ordinary people. I've shared driving with another driver on long journeys, 45mins into the trip he's flagging and asked me to take over, I've driven the remaining near 5 hours! My general experience of shared driving is that I end up doing the Lions share! - some people have minimal capacity for long trips, BUT by Tacho monitoring standards they would at least legally be OK!
Countless times with appalling roads and accidents, poor driving standards causing congestion, and often diabolical road/incident management to compound issues, I've been delayed to the point that a nominal 5 hour journey including 'wee stops' has turned into an 11 hour marathon with little choice but to soldier on! - on A and B roads there are very few spots where you can park up a car-caravan outfit safely! I'm fortunate in that I have the durability/stamina to cope, and at journeys end I still have the task of pitching and setting up the caravan! Many would struggle, many would not even contemplate a 5 hour drive in the first place! Have to say, European driving tends to be a lot easier than UK driving as far as conditions are concerned, but that is countered by the potential greater distances you may drive.
Common sense must prevail, bureaucracy is not really going to improve road safety by monitoring driving hours of private vehicles. Commercial HGVs are a different matter, as is the case for any professional driver, employers often force unreasonable demands upon their drivers, I've known a few, and they are expected to perform the near impossible!
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Quote: Originally posted by Monty15 on 07/2/2026
Common sense must prevail, bureaucracy is not really going to improve road safety by monitoring driving hours of private vehicles. Commercial HGVs are a different matter, as is the case for any professional driver, employers often force unreasonable demands upon their drivers, I've known a few, and they are expected to perform the near impossible!
I quite agree Monty, it would be a bureaucratic nightmare anyway. No way could the existing authorities cope anyway, they would probably need more than 10 times the number of staff at least.
In any case, tachographs, and before them log-books, are more about dealing with unreasonable employers forcing excessive hours on their drivers. Some of them would have drivers working 24/7 if they could get away with it. Private drivers have a choice, they drive as many or as few hours as they want, there is no pressure on them to complete a delivery schedule or work to an impossible timetable. Tachographs would be completely pointless for private motorists, whatever they are driving.
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Topic: Motorhome Tachograph for Europe?
