EU operators face three-tacho confusion
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• Operators could be using three generations of tachographs within five years, in a pan-European development which will bring confusion and increase the risk of its exploitation by cowboys.
It was always understood that hauliers in the EU would be using two types of tacho during the changeover period: traditional analogue models and the new digital system.
But now Ell government tachograph experts are conceding that an upgraded digital system will be required, creating a third type.
Discussions in the EU technical committee responsible for the details of the digital "smart card" tachograph are not expected to lead to approval of the first specification until later in the year.
The technical committee is expected to agree the standard for digital equipment this autumn. Although it is unlikely operators will be asked to fit the new equipment retrospectively, it will be fitted in new trucks bought two years after the decision. The full digital software upgrade will take effect some time after the autumn of 2002.
As a result, operators, drivers and enforcement agencies will have to operate and analyse three different systems for recording drivers' hours over the next few years.
But there are fears in Europe that the legal constraints with the first wave of digital specification law mean drivers who lose—or pretend to lose—their smart cards will be able drive for up to 15 days without manually inputting their identification, making them untraceable. The second digital specification will close this loophole, making it possible for a driver to input his ID manually.