Revised tacho d one-minute'
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ruling causes confusion
CM COVER STORY
roger.brown@rbi.co.uk THE ROAD TRANSPORT industry is appealing for clarification over how new tachograph legislation, due to come into force next year. will work in practice.
Confusion surrounds the update of the -one-minute rule", due to become EU law in October 2011, that means if a driver drives a vehicle for 29 seconds and rests or is on "non-work duties" for 31 seconds, this is considered as him or her engaged in the latter for the whole minute.
Currently, if a driver drives one second in a minute, this is recorded as him or her having driven for the whole 60-second period. The change in the legislation means multidrop drivers could get up to 30 minutes more driving time during the working day.
Some industry figures are concerned there may be a two-tier system in place from October next year, with some drivers recording hours under the new legislation, and others according to the old rules.
Sally Thomley, Fre igh t Transport Association (FTA) head of legal compliance.says the new legislation "may be an issue" for some hauliers. However, she adds: "We hope it will be a situation where this is a case of the legislation being a technical tweak to the rules, rather than a fundamental change that causes problems."
Karen Crispe, director of tachograph products firm Tachodisc, says although she welcomes the changes, there is uncertainty about how the authorities will police the new system. "Two different driver cards will give two types of data," she explains. "We are not sure how enforcement bodies will interpret the new legislation."
Stoneridge Electronics says it is carrying out tests on its E5000 digital tachograph, designed to record information ready for the new regulations.
Peter Hafmar, product manager for tachographs at Stoneridge, says: "We will have it ready in March next year, in time for the implementation date.