COFs and roadside inspections
- Get familiar with the COF inspection process and the requirements that vehicles must meet to pass a COF. Get to know the Vehicle Inspection Requirements Manual (VIRM), which tells you what standards you must meet to pass COF.
- Make sure you identify any faults with your vehicle and fix them before you take the vehicle in for its COF.
- Keep up a preventative maintenance programme that proactively identifies faults and fixes them straight away. If you would like some advice on setting up a preventative maintenance programme, contact a Transport Officer at your local NZTA regional office.
- Familiarise yourself with the types of faults that may be found at roadside inspections. These are outlined in the heavy motor vehicle Categorisation of Defects handbook
- Make a walk-around inspection of your vehicle as part of your (or your drivers') pre-trip routine, and make sure any defects are fixed before hitting the road. Check out our guide to conducting pre-trip inspections and the Commercial road transport toolkit.
- Build a culture of continuous improvement, where there is good communication between drivers, managers and maintenance staff, and feedback about vehicle condition is welcomed and acted on.
- If you have any concerns with the decisions made at your roadside or CoF inspection, you can discuss these with your COF provider, local CVIU or NZTA office. Have the discussion as early as possible - if you wait until you receive the six-monthly notification of your proposed safety rating, it may be too late to resolve the problem.
- If you use a commercial maintenance and inspection service offered by a third party, make sure that your service provider is clear about your expectations that your vehicles will pass COF first time, every time
- Make sure that your correct TSL number is provided to the COF inspector, preferably by way of a TSL label displayed in your vehicle. Make sure your TSL label is displayed whenever your vehicle is on the road, so that it can be identified if it's stopped at the roadside.
- Keep good records of your roadside inspection results so that you can check the details of your proposed safety rating before it is published. Make sure that your drivers return their copy of the Commercial Vehicle Inspection Report (CVIR) form to you after a roadside inspection. Now that the electronic Roadside Inspection Database (RID) has been implemented, you can also receive an email each time one of your vehicles has a roadside inspection. Send your TSL number and email address to ors@nzta.govt.nz if you would like to sign up for this service. (Please note that NZTA may also use your email address to contact you regarding developments with ORS, or other NZTA-related communications.)
Offences
- Make sure that the correct TSL label is displayed in your vehicle at all times while you are operating it. Failure to display a TSL label is an offence.
- Set achievable schedules and rosters, so that your drivers can adhere to the speed limits and work time requirements. Ensure that your drivers understand the importance of sticking to the speed limit, taking the required breaks, and completing their logbooks correctly.
- Make sure that your drivers are appropriately licensed and trained for the type of driving they do. Through the Transport Organisation Register Online (TORO) you can (with your drivers' permission) receive updates whenever their licence status changes – for example, if a licence or endorsement expires, or if the licence is suspended or disqualified. Email toro@nzta.govt.nz to sign up.
- Put in place a safe driving policy for your business. A safe driving policy can improve driver safety and reduce offending by addressing fatigue, distraction, speeding and drink driving, and promoting the use of safety belts and other safety features.
- Address any offending by your drivers that you become aware of. You can receive updates from TORO when a driver reaches either 50 or 100 demerit points, so you are aware that offending has been occurring and loss of licence may be imminent.
- Sign up to the Safe and Fuel Efficient Driving (SAFED) NZ programme, which promotes and teaches a safe and fuel efficient driving style. The techniques learnt through SAFED NZ can improve driver safety, confidence and performance, and have a positive impact on your safety rating, as well as reducing fuel and maintenance costs.
