EC suggests 'black box'
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• All trucks could have to be fitted with all-electronic tachographs by the end of the decade, says a European Commission chief.
A proposal to replace tachos with an aircraft-style black box to record speed and time spent at the wheel will be discussed by Europe's transport ministers early next year. Another plan is that electronic devices could be fitted by hauliers as an alternative to the tachograph.
The 12 transport ministers could give the go-ahead to optional electronic tachos by 1993, says John Berry, from the Commission's transport directorate. If they decide that electronic devices should replace the current mechanical tachograph, the plan could take several years longer.
"The current tachograph will not be here forever," says Berry. "It is prone to maltreatment and crude falsification." He believes that a black box device, with a data card to record a week's movements, would stamp out ruses such as drivers bending the stylus to disguise their speeds and hours worked.
And enforcement of drivers hours could be increased because of the speed with which the information could be downloaded into a computer, he says. Nigel Kirkwood, of Liverpoolbased Tachograph Analysis Consultants, agrees. He says it takes an hour to get 23 disc readings from standard tachos into a computer; with a black box it would take five seconds.
But Kirkwood believes it would be unfair to force owners of the UK's 500,000 LGVs and 60,000 coaches to fit the equipment, which he estimates will retail at around £400 — the price of existing tachograph equipment.