'Any interference with the legal framework must not compromise safety'
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ost people in our business rightly or wrongly regard the tachograph and associated legislation as tedious. It distorts our operating costs and, often through no fault of the driver or operator, a company can be made to look very unprofessional by the courts.
Consider the tachograph from the operators' point of view. Modern trucks cost three times as much as when restrictions on drivers' hours were first introduced. But this expensive equipment is often less productive because of the forced limits. This is completely against the trend of modern industry.
And from the drivers' point of view the restrictions may also rub against the grain. When these laws were written truck cabs were very basic—air conditioning, night heaters, air suspension, power steering and synchromesh gearboxes were the exception rather than the rule. Truck manufacturers have spent millions to ensure that a driver steps out of his cab nearly as fresh as when he got into it. The level of driver fatigue has
certainly been reduced. When it comes to productivity truck drivers have very little bargaining power whereas their colleagues in other industries can trade increased productivity for wage rises. Restrictions on driving hours ensure a driver's productivity is capped. As an industry we cannot ignore the fears of the general public. Any interference with the legal framework must not compromise safety. However, ask any woman to compare the appliances in her kitchen with those her mother used, ask any man to compare the car he drives with the one his father drove. The difference will be vast.
Tachograph legislation needs to be looked at in the context of the modern society we live in. It should be rewritten and not continually added to. It must be written in a form that makes the public feel that their safety is paramount while allowing operators and drivers to give industry a competitive service for a just reward. With the advent of the Channel Tunnel some commentators are suggesting that journey times from Greater London and southern England cart be reduced by a day. This may be so but the same benefits cannot be shared by operators in Wales, northern England and Scotland. Now imagine what it does to us in Ireland.
Europe has just returned 300 MEPs to its parliament, hopefully full of enthusiasm. Is it too much to ask them to look at tachograph legislation in a new light? Ask them to look at it From our customers' viewpoint—should a fish processor from West Donegal or Northern Scotland be penalised because a truck spends iwo hours on the M25 or spectates while French farmers stage a peaceful protest"? Any change will not necessarily
compromise safety but will allow those of us in the more remote parts of Europe to effectively become part of the Common Market.