Tachodisc

For over a quarter of a century Tachodisc was known by the industry as a provider of products and solutions for the analogue tachograph.  This all changed a couple of years with the introduction of digital tachographs, and to support this Tachodisc invested heavily in developing new technologies and services, and extended its sales team. The company also appointed a new technology director, Guy Reynolds, who compares here how the UK is managing the digital transition as compared to the rest of Europe, and questions if there are opportunities for us as an industry to lead by example, and impart our knowledge with other EU countries.

Let’s not forget a tachograph chart and a digital drivers card file are legal documents, with legally binding information on them.

Tachodisc usually writes articles for Freight Industry Times on all different aspects of EU Drivers Hours’ Regulations and the interpretation of the law. This article is a little different; it is my view of the current state of the EU Drivers Hours Law and the implementation of digital tachographs across a number of European countries.

In the UK we can be very critical of our road haulage industry and people that work within it, especially the HGV drivers. In my experience of the industry the overwhelming majority of the people that work within it are of an extremely high calibre, from management through to drivers, operating professionally and legally.

However, in my opinion the emphasis on Drivers Hours and Digital Tachograph legislation compliance varies from country to country.  If I was to ask you to name three countries or regions of Europe apart from the UK that you would consider to be strong on Driver Hours Law, you would probably name France, Germany and Holland, or the Scandinavian countries as a region. If I then asked you to name three countries in Europe that you would consider to be particularly weak on Drivers Hours Law, most people would probably name countries such as Portugal, Spain and Italy.  I can say that in my experience all of the above would be correct.

So why is it when we are all working under the same EU legislation there are different standards of implementation? Without judgement to the rights and wrongs of the legislation there is a cost associated to adhering to the law, and in my opinion some countries pay less attention to the law than offers. Would this then give some countries an operational advantage, thus cost benefits over others who are adhering to the law?

With an analogue tachograph most vehicle operators can understand the basic principles of a tachograph activity trace line, and so up to a point it is readable by those familiar with tachograph charts.  For many years there has been a culture of tachograph analysis in the UK, which is supported by companies like Tachodisc who advise hauliers on tachograph and drivers hours’ infringements to make ensure that companies stay legal. This is not the case for the vast majority of EU countries. There is little or no bureau analysis, with the vast majority of vehicle operators only carrying out basic tachograph checks. If you take that to the extreme, someone could look at a tachograph chart and say “That’s OK”, and then hang it on a peg and forget about it.

With the onset of the digital tachograph this is simply not the case anymore. If you have a vehicle fitted with a digital tachograph you need computer software to able to view driver’s card information at the very least and then analyse it at best. In the UK this has not been a major problem as there is an existing culture of tachograph charts being analysed professionally, and so therefore it is a natural progression for vehicle operators to move towards professional computer software to do the same job. In the vast majority of European countries there is no culture of analysis, and so the idea of paying for software to give tachograph analysis is completely alien to European operators. The problem is that operators can no longer just look at a chart and say, “That’s OK”. They need computer software to translate the digital data into a readable form, in order to comply with the law.

As a whole the UK is well ahead of the vast majority of other European countries. We have a mature tachograph analysis software industry. At Tachodisc we already had software for the analogue chart analysis in place, and so it was a logical step for us to reposition ourselves in time for the digital implementation.

So should we as an industry lead by example and share our knowledge of digital tachographs with Europe?  The answer is yes, the UK transport industry has invested heavily in digital tachograph technology and systems in order to comply with law, and we need more of a level playing field.  But obviously, it’s not that simple.

So what are the barriers to us taking Europe by storm?  I would suspect that most people would consider language to be the barrier, but actually it is not, it is culture in my experience. In December last year, I was in Portugal on business, and I was surprised to find that digital drivers’ cards were still not being issued – the EU law was enforced in May 2006!  This was compounded by the fact that the country is split into three distinct regions (North, Central and South) each with their own governments!  Combine this with the fact that there are no existing analysis bureaus, and it’s easy to see why they do not have the infrastructure in place that can evolve with the emergence of digital tachographs.  This is just one example; there are 26 other member states apart from the UK, with 26 cultural differences?

Tachodisc is currently facing these challenges in order to bridge the skills gap, and is working with several distributors across Europe to provide legal advice and solutions for digital tachograph technology.

Guy Reynolds has over 21 years developing industrial software solutions.  He also designed Tachodisc’s highly successful Clockwatcher suite of data analysis software programmes.

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