DOT calls for tad() black box testing
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by Amanda Bradbury • The Department of Transport says there could be a delay in a European Commission deadline of 2000 to make compulsory bolt. on £500 black box recorders on tachographs.
The electronic devices—estimated to cost up to twice the cost of a new tachograph and up to £200 to fit older vehicles— should be subject to trials first, say DOT officials. They want tests to ensure the electronic devices are fully secure.
The planned adoption date of the Directive requiring the new technology is in the first half of next year, meaning new trucks coming on to the market in 1998 would have to fit black boxes; retrofitting older vehicles would start in 2000.
But the DOT says it has some sympathy with hauliers' fears that black boxes are expensive and unnecessary—they could soon be outdated as completely electronic devices are developed.
According to a DOT spokesman: "There are a lot of worries with this Commission proposal: the issue of smart card security needs to be firmly nailed down; and there are compliance costs to the industry. There also may be a problem with the courts accepting digitally held material as evidence."
A police spokesman says the Police and Criminal Evidence Act requires all computer-generated evidence to be proved as accurate as possible.
An enforcement working group from the UK is liaising with the Commission on this issue. • The European Commission dismisses any idea that the UK's reservations could delay its proposed tachograph Directive and says it is still due for implementation by 2000. A Commission official says that although the German Presidency of the EU has failed to table the proposal for the next transport ministers meeting next week, German officials are expected to produce a report on the proposal which they themselves said was a priority. The Commission brushes aside speculation by some UK observers that the reason the Germans have not tabled the proposal for discussion is because ministers are unlikely to reach agreement on it and it is likely not to go through the European Parliament. An informal reading of the tachograph proposals, has been tabled for MEPs next Tuesday (22 November)