no, although there only needs to be a stop for driver change, and not for a passenger break, I cannot believe that any company would sanction a driver change on the move, that is not to say that drivers never do it.
With Digital Tachograph cards being used it isn't possible to swap drivers on the go. As someone who does double manning long distance work I can confidently say I have always changed driver in a service station
I also cannot believe that any company would sanction an on-the-move driver change. It's a moment when people can easily be distracted and, to my mind at least, is no different to using a phone while driving, for example.
To return to your original question, possibly, our politicians are easily influenced by big business as mentioned by others in this thread. The splitting runs to get around safety legislation is pointless anyway, other than as a fiddle/ work around to increase profits.
There are some long distance NX routes that run non stop, the coach pulls into a services for the drivers to change over.
In Ireland we do have domestic rules. They are different to the UK rules with only the 5.5 hour driving spells and 30 min breaks being the same. Max driving can be 11 hours and you must have 24 hours off after your 6th day. If you reduce down to 9 hours rest you must compensate it with 12 hours the day after.