The Tragedy of Chain of Responsibility

It was meant to be a watershed moment in the regulation of safety in the transport industry. It was meant to result in all users of heavy vehicles having a good hard look at themselves. It was meant to ensure drivers did not carry the brunt of the majority of enforcement activity. It was meant to hold big business to account but it has all gone horribly wrong.
Sadly not because people want to do the wrong thing or are deliberately flouting the law but because there is almost complete ignorance of how the law works and how you comply. There is now even more unreasonable pressure on transport operators and drivers to provide insane levels of assurance to others in the chain so those parties can supposedly comply with their COR duties, while not doing one iota of good for safety.
So where has it gone wrong? The messaging around COR did not change with the new legislation and it failed to explain the new legal test well and simply enough. A total reset is required including consultation with HV users, redrafting sections of the Code of Practice to ensure it effectively explains and interprets the new law in respect of contracts, industry wide simple and effective training and cessation of the use of the term Chain of Responsibility.