DVSA has provided a guide to maintain roadworthiness, you’re responsible for making sure your vehicle is safe to drive.

Carry out a walkaround check of the vehicle before your journey to make sure it’s safe. Report any defects in writing to the person in charge of sorting out vehicle defects in your organisation. The police and Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) officers can stop you to do checks on your vehicles. You can be stopped from driving until you fix any problems they find, or they can issue you with a fine.

Daily Walkaround Checks:

A daily walk around check will help to ensure that the vehicle is clean, roadworthy, safe to drive and legal. It also helps to highlight and fix any defects, reduce maintenance costs/vehicle downtime. It’s estimated that 85% of roadworthiness infringements could be avoided if the driver does a walkaround check before starting the journey.

An important way in which we will achieve this is by helping you keep your vehicle safe to drive. Whether you operate a large fleet or just one vehicle, keeping your vehicles in a roadworthy condition is good for business, good for the environment and helps you stay safe on Britain’s roads.

QR Codes:

With AdvancedFleet, we offer a full walkaround driver check solution. Other telematics companies do have a walkaround check option, however, these are often static and can be done in-cab, which may lead to drivers ticking boxes instead of carrying out a genuine inspection. Our app uses QR codes meaning the drivers have to physically scan the location of each checkpoint. This physical ‘walk-around’ check increases the probability of a complete check being carried out on your vehicle.

How It Works:

Each vehicle would be fitted with AdvancedFleet QR Codes, placed around each critical zone for compliance. The driver scans the code at the time of inspection and can either confirm or report that there are defects in a free text box. The driver can then add further photographic evidence of the defect which becomes part of the report. All of the reports are saved in the system and a full audit trail is available. The report with defects to be actioned will then be alerted to the supervisor / fleet operator.

Guide:

This guide gives fleet operators and drivers a framework to plan, execute and record the activities needed to keep their vehicles safe and roadworthy. DVSA’s vision is for safer drivers, safer vehicles and safer journeys for all.

What does this guide contain?

  • Daily walk around checks
  • Roadworthiness inspections
  • Responsibilities for roadworthiness
  • First use inspection
  • Safety inspection intervals
  • Vehicle cleanliness & more

If you’re a transport manager or vehicle operator, read guidance about how to make walkaround checks part of your processes for keeping your vehicles safe to drive.

Watch a video showing what checks to do:

This short video shows some of the checks that you should do. Read the full list in this guide for more details.