URTU could block digital tachographs
Page 8
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
hy Sally Nash The United Road Transport Union is threatening to mount a campaign against the introduction of digital tachographs unless the thorny issue of security is addressed.
With two years to go before smart-card-based systems are introduced, the union is concerned about potential data storage and security problems following suggestions that digital tachos could be vulnerable to electronic tampering (CM 29 April-7 May).
"We could find ourselves launching a campaign to prevent the introduction of digital tachographs—and we would tell drivers to refuse to accept the new technology" says URTU general secretary David Higginbottom.
At a recent meeting in Brussels, Higginbottom discussed his concerns with representatives from the International Road Transport Union, the European Commission and the European trade union FST. Member states were told to raise the topic with employers' organisations in a bid to get a pan-European view.
One question that still remains unanswered is whether smart cards are as tamperproof as the chart-based tachos they are replacing in the wake of a report last year which suggested that digital tacho graphs might make life easier for cowboys, (CM 30 April-6 May1998).
Other controversies include who will issue the cards and who will hold the records taken from the vehicle's data storage unit or driver cards.
Higginbottom points out that two recent URTU surveys revealed that a third of drivers appear unaware of the move to digital tachographs.