Digital Tachographs

Tachographs are fitted in both passenger and goods’ vehicles that fit within the tachograph ruling. As of 2006, it became a legal requirement to have digital tachographs installed in your new vehicle (within the categories of passenger, commercial and goods).

The more advanced version of its well-known predecessor, the analogue tachograph, the digital tachograph records information on a range of vehicle and driver activities, including:

• Driver activity – This includes what the driver is doing (e.g. driving, working or having a break).
• Distance travelled by the driver
• Date – Logged across all activity to ensure the correct hours are assigned to the correct dates. Date and time of each individual activity, including changes made by fleet managers and/or drivers.
• Tachograph calibrations – This is an inspection of the unit, which must be undertaken by an Approved Tachograph Centre every two years to ensure correct readings are recorded.
• Events that take place, like Card Inserted whilst driving, as well as any faults that happen during the journey.
• Vehicle speed – This is recorded for every second of movement.
• Enforcement checks made by either management or the emergency services like DVSA.
• Any tampering with the system – With digital tachographs, this is nearly impossible to do and, in the vast majority of cases, any tampering activity will be captured.
• The number of times a driver card is inserted each day – This may include moving from one vehicle to another, or could be an indication of tampering.
• Whether there was a single or two co-drivers – In this instance, there may be co-drivers because of the laws that were introduced in 2007, regulated by the EU. The non-stop driving time may not exceed 4.5 hours for a single driver, after which time, the driver must take a break. However, if you are sharing the driving with another individual, this enables a crew’s duties to be spread over a longer period.
• Vehicle registration number.

How do they work?

Digital tachographs work by digitally recording all data on the driver and vehicle in both its internal memory and separately on the driver’s smart card. Information must be downloaded every 90 days (Maximum) from the digital tachograph; and every 28 days from the driver card. The tachograph data then needs to be analysed. The analysis covers areas like hours’ law compliance and Working Time Directive compliance.

Digital tachographs are made up of three different parts that all play important roles in the recording of the driver’s activity; the vehicle unit (VU), the speed sensor and the smart card.

The VU comprises of a real-time clock, a display, a printer, a processor, two card slots (for multi-manning drives), a download connector and a method of entering manual information. The VU is located in the cab of the driver’s area for easy access and safe use.

The speed sensor is located on the gearbox. This records the speed of the vehicle, as well as the total distance travelled by the vehicle, which is then sent to the VU to be recorded for the overall analysis. All information recorded from both the VU and the speed sensor is encrypted, meaning that it is highly unlikely for the information to become compromised and any attempt to interfere with the information is recorded by the VU itself.

There are several types of cards that the cardholder can use to identify himself or herself; a driver card, a control card, a workshop card and the company card. Each card enables the holder to identify himself or herself allowing data to transfer for reports.

It is illegal to drive a passenger or goods’ vehicle without the use of a driver card. If this has not been inserted in advance of starting a journey, it is be recorded for analysis and the driver can be fined or worse.

How often are they calibrated?

A digital tachograph needs to be calibrated every two years. This is to ensure your records are being collected accurately.

The driver needs to make sure that that they use their driver card when required.

The transport manager can download data from the driver card when requested and this should be done every 28 days by law. Many companies do it more often.

The VU will typically store data for the previous 365 days before the oldest data is overwritten, by which time all records should have been downloaded, analysed and saved to keep you legal.

Although the requirement is for VUs (Vehicle Units) to be downloaded every 90 days, it is advisable to download monthly.