Nov/Dec 2004

Digital tachographs, which are due to become mandatory in new goods vehicles from 5 August 2005, will not initially be mutually compatible. That was admitted by makers Siemens and Actia as recently as this November.

The Freight Transport Association says it has been told by the makers that they will not be able to offer this kind of compatibility for "a minimum of another eighteen months" - and that assumes that they will offer it at all.

Furthermore, the makers have told the FTA that digital tachographs will not offer easy links to vehicle operators' own management systems, and maintain that such links "are not needed for what amounts to Government-required enforcement equipment."

These comments have been condemned by the FTA, which has long argued for a "multi-function black box" that can handle both tachograph and fleet management functions. Such a prospect, never great, appears to be dwindling steadily into a distant dream.

 

"This is simply not good enough," says FTA chief executive Richard Turner. "The bungled introduction of digital tachographs by the European Commission and the equipment suppliers seems to be proceeding with little or no concern for the scheme's paymasters - vehicle operators across Europe.

"The so-called EU Lisbon agenda is targeted to make the EU the most competitive economy by 2010. Fat chance of achieving that if legislation and industry cooperation on this matter is an example of future progress."