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Brussels warned to steer clear of digitach spec trap
Page 20
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As Brussels looks at digitachs, Tachodisc warns officials not to fall into the same trap twice.
Roanna Avison reports.
AS EUROPEAN Commission officials consider the design and spec of the next generation of digital tachographs,Tachoclisc has called on them not to make the same mistake twice.
Karen Crispe, a director at Tachodisc, says problems with the current digitach, such as the fact that it rounds up to the nearest minute rather than measuring in seconds, are due to the fact that designers did not take into account technological advances.
"The problem is that the drawings and spec for digital tachographs were released 10 years ago and the technology that was introduced 18 months ago is the same as that suggested 10 years ago," she says. "But if you think about how technology has changed in the last 10 years it's not surprising the digitachs are not up to scratch in this way.
"Just think how different your mobile phone and laptop are from 10 years ago," she adds. "The technology suggested 10 years ago is inadequate. With what's available now it could be GPRS or black-box technology, but because we cannot go back and start again, due to the legislation, we are stuck with old technology and nobody really has an answer to the issue.
"It raises all sorts of problems such as a driver doing multi-drop using a digitach can be 20 minutes over his driving hours, when if he was using an analogue he would be Crispe points out.
She says Brussels is looking at the next generation of digital tachographs now, but it will be another five plus years before anything is actually available, warning: "They need to make sure they don't fall into the same trap and limit them to today's technology."