CPC Truck: Case Study Practice.

Pádraig delivers building supplies with a 3-axle rigid truck on conventional steel suspension. He was due out early, and with the yard busy he skipped most of his walk-around check, glancing only at the mirrors and lights. He also left the tachograph mode switch untouched while he loaded.

His first run was along a regional road, where he sat at 85 km/h to hold on to his delivery slot. Back at the yard, he was asked to move a small van — a vehicle that is exempt and out of scope of the tachograph rules — across town. Before driving it he used the tachograph's manual input facility to record that time as other work.

A diversion on the afternoon run took him towards a railway bridge with a 4.4 metre height sign. The travel height of his truck was 4.5 metres. Pádraig stopped in a safe place before the bridge and re-planned his route rather than chance it.

At a checkpoint that evening a Garda asked for his licence, his CPC card and his driver records for the current day and the previous 28 calendar days. Walking around the truck, the Garda found the front offside tyre worn below the legal limit, with the sidewall scuffed from repeated kerb strikes. An RSA vehicle inspector was called and placed a prohibition on the truck until the tyre was replaced. Pádraig finished the day waiting at the roadside for a fitter, with his last delivery still on board.

Marius drives a six-axle articulated combination — a three-axle tractor unit with a three-axle semi-trailer fitted with Electronic Stability Control. Today's load was steel girders with sharp edges. The loading crew offered him web straps with protective sleeves, but Marius was used to ropes and roped the load down instead. He set off without planning any stop to re-check the load.

On the motorway he held the truck at 90 km/h. He had started driving at 06:00, and at 10:30 he pulled into a service area where he took a 15 minute break. After a short drive to his first delivery he later took a 30 minute break, completing his break time for that driving period.

In the afternoon a car cut across his lane and braked hard, and Marius had to brake sharply. He felt the load shift towards the front of the trailer. At a weighbridge check further on, the shifted load had put one axle over its permitted weight, even though the overall combination was within its limit.

The last leg home included a long steep descent. At the top of the hill Marius changed to a lower gear and engaged the retarder, letting the endurance brake hold his speed so that the service brakes stayed cool all the way down.

Emer drives a 4-axle rigid tipper with road-friendly air suspension, delivering stone to a housing site. It had rained all night and the ground on site was soft. Pulling away from the stockpile her wheels began to spin, so she engaged the diff-lock, moved off slowly, and disengaged it again as soon as the truck was underway.

Her next job was collecting steel pipes from a merchant. Loaded, the pipes extended 2 metres beyond the rear of the body, so Emer marked the overhang with a red flag for the daytime run. The pipes were packed tightly so they could not move against each other, and she checked the lashings again at her first stop.

The route to the site passed through an urban slow zone, and Emer kept to 30 km/h past a school just as classes ended and children crowded the footpaths. At the site entrance she was guided in by a banksman while reversing, keeping him in view in her mirrors the whole way back.

Leaving the site empty, she stopped to clear the mud from her wheels, lights and rear markings and checked her tyres for cuts before rejoining the public road. On the long hill down towards town she chose a low gear early, knowing that gravity would push the truck faster all the way down.