According to research published in HGV UK, the majority of HGV drivers say they do not carry out vehicle safety checks. Ensuring daily walkaround checks happen is part of the commitment an HGV fleet operator makes to receive a licence and an important part of ongoing compliance and road safety. Over 500 UK and Ireland based HGV drivers were asked how often they carry out daily walkaround checks. Almost 39.3% of drivers responded ‘I never do checks and a further 15.8% saying they rarely complete checks. If this is representative of all drivers this means that 55% do not carry out daily vehicle safety checks as they should. It has often been reported that around 80% of roadside prohibitions by the DVSA due to roadworthiness could have been avoided if a vehicle safety check had taken place before the vehicle left the depot. Walkaround vehicle safety checks should be routine. Driving an unsafe vehicle puts the driver, operator, and other road users at risk. It also exposes the driver and operator to fines, loss of the operators’ license and custodial sentences in the most serious cases. Insurance could also be invalid in the case of a claim. How can operators’ mitigate the risk and make sure these essential vehicle safety checks take place? The best option is to use a vehicle safety check app such as SmartCheck that records the checks on a mobile device and sends the results back to the depot. It records the date, time, location and duration of the check to give confidence that the check actually took place. Faults can be identified and dealt with in a timely fashion to minimise impact on the business. SmartCheck is available for £5 per vehicle per month - sign-up today.