EU rules for di tack's from
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m by Karen Miles
Operators and drivers have a little over two years to get to grips with digital tachograph technology All HGVs entering service from September 2002 will have to be fitted with digital tachographs. Coupled with driver "smart cards", these will allow enforcement authorities across the European Union to increase their scrutiny of drivers' records.
The specification for the new system was finally agreed in Rrussels last week by civil servants from the FU's 15 member states. Once the details are pub!ished in September, truck manufacturers will have 24 months to incorporate the design into their new vehIcles.
EU governments will have 21 months to set up a system for issuing smart cards to drivers: the UK is expecting to issue more than a million.
Now that the technical specifications have been sorted out, EU governments will turn their attention to working out how driver data will be downloaded and scrutinised by enforcement authorities.
The UK Department of Transport expects there will be a far tougher level of enforcement, with up to 40% of drivers' charts being analysed by the Vehicle Inspectorate and police. The present FU requirement is for 1%.
In the first phase after September there could be some confusion among hauliers and drivers about what will be expected of them. For example, drivers of new trucks who lose their cards will not be required to manually input details about their non-driving activities, nor their ID, for up to 15 days.
This loophole will be closed by the second phase, but it is not yet known if trucks which are put on the road in the intervening year or so will need to have their tachograph software re-programmed.