IRU Road Safety Charter

• Plan operations to ensure safety obligations are met
  • Schedule vehicles so that drivers' hours and resting time rules can be followed in normal traffic conditions mindful of drivers' needs;
  • Ensure vehicle loading complies with minimum and maximum axle load requirements;
  • Schedule journeys such that speed, routing and other traffic restriction requirements are complied with. Where there are no actual restrictions, ensure that, as far as possible, the safest route is followed;
  • Ensure that vehicles are parked in places where they are not likely to jeopardise road safety.
• Monitor driver compliance with the law
  • Check regularly that drivers hold valid vocational driving licences and other certificates required by the law, and that they have received appropriate training;
  • Monitor tachograph records for compliance with drivers' hours and resting times;
  • Follow up appropriately any complaints against the driver;
  • Ensure drivers are fully aware of and comply with their obligations, notably with regard to their passengers, in the case of bus, coach and taxi transport.
• Encourage driver training at levels above the legal minimum standards
  • Encourage drivers to understand their responsibilities to their passengers, other road users and the communities through which they pass;
  • Have drivers trained in accordance with internationally recognised standards, such as those of the IRU Academy Training;
  • Keep records of such instruction;
  • Re-assess driver performance regularly and in the case of complaints;
  • Give each driver a personal copy of the IRU Truck or Coach Driver Check-List and of any other road safety material for drivers produced by the IRU or its national Association, as appropriate.
• Ensure vehicles are safe and well-maintained
  • Ensure, by preventive maintenance and checks before departure, that vehicles are always roadworthy;
  • Ensure that vehicles are well prepared as a function of the state of the roads and possible meteorological conditions and provide them with the essential equipment needed (e.g., snow chains in winter);
  • Implement guidelines on vehicle maintenance, such as those contained in the IRU Road Safety Management Manual;
  • Implement formal procedures for vehicle defect reporting by drivers;
• Show consideration for other road users and pedestrians
  • Educate drivers to adopt a "defensive", driving technique. In particular, not to tailgate;
  • Remind drivers of the special vulnerability of pedestrians, cyclists and motor cyclists;
  • Ensure drivers make the maximum use of motorways and primary routes and avoid residential areas, except for commercial vehicles, buses and coaches serving the latter;
  • Ensure, in the case of goods transport, that all loads are properly secured and, where appropriate, covered;
• Promote the health of their workforce
  • Comply with the occupational health responsibilities of employers to their employees;
  • Take concrete steps to encourage drivers to adopt a healthy lifestyle and avoid driving under inappropriate medication.
  • Inform drivers appropriately about health hazards they may encounter on particular journeys, in the presence of epidemic diseases, for example.

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