The EC has authorised a working party to investigate problems arising from digital tachographs rounding up driving time, and may introduce a new digital tachograph. The Swedish Road Administration (SRA) will look at the technology used by drivers to provide a supposedly accurate reflection of working hours. Problems lie in the technical specification of the digitach unit, which industry observers say was designed to round up to the nearest minute, rather than the second like analogue tachographs.
The SRA has invited the International Road Transport Union (IRU) to help it look at solutions. IRU social and fiscal affairs spokesman Damian Viccars says: "IRU members have conducted a lot of tests which show quite clearly there's a gap between what is recorded with an analogue tacho and what is now being recorded with a digitach." Hubert Linssen, general delegate to the EU at the IRU, told MT at the Road Haulage Association conference last week that the EU has launched a project to develop "a new digital tachograph after it recognised the problems with the current system". The IRU is working on the technical specifications.
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