Their is nothing worse than taking on a last minute job, van all sparkly new, taxed, MOT’ed and with van insurance cover to the hilt, than to get stuck in a jam because ahead of you lies an accident and the incumbent ‘rubber-neckers’ that clog up the remaining lanes.
The government has recognised that, although preventing accidents on UK roads has to be priority, to keep the roads moving and risk losing more man hours once there has been an incident, it is imperative to get crash-sites tidied as soon as possible.
To that end, the government have been working alongside digital experts and rolled out new 3D laser imaging devices in a project nicknamed CLEAR that can take a snapshot of an entire scene, and let the crash investigators deduce the cause on PC screens back at the office, rather than encourage passersby to gaup at the wreckage, slowing as they pass, causing major headaches for commercial drivers for miles back down the motorway.
23 police forces to benefit
The Department of Transport have not put all of their eggs in one basket with this technlogy, distributing the scanners to 27 police forces across the UK.
The only bid for the new device that was actually turned down was from London, as their force do not police the strategic road network, for which the product delivers the most benefit.
Step up in technology welcomed
Police already use some technology when carrying out investigations into possible causes of road traffic accidents.
Couple this with the 3D Laser scanner and the introduction of Roadhawk, the in-cab EIS which van and fleet insurance providers are backing, the crash-for-cash insurance scammers are having their routes to market cut one by one.
£1bn in man-hours lost due to motorway jams
However, protecting van insurance is not the main intent of the new device. The government are vary aware of how much motorway delays are costing the economy, annually.
It is hoped that clear-up rates for RTA’s will now take an average 39 minutes, which is an improvement on last year’s 20,000 hours to clear up 18,000 incidents.
Unlike other existing technology in place that relies on assessors opinion’s it is expected that any evidence captured by the scanners can be submitted as just that, evidence in a court of law.
The message is clear – if you’re setting out on the motorway in your commercial vehicle, it is imperative that you have the correct van insurance as there are fewer ways to plead ignorance than ever before.