All relevant vehicles registered after 15 June 2019 will have to be fitted with a new Smart Tachograph. Although the legislation was introduced during 2014, the intervening preparation phase has been fraught with difficulty and even now there are supply chain issues, although it is understood that these should be resolved within a few weeks.
This new digital tachograph is a big change for industry and enforcement authorities.
Enforcement vehicles will be fitted with a Remote Early Detection Communication Reader which will be able to read data remotely from a passing digital tachograph. It will no longer be necessary for LGVs to be stopped for basic tachograph data to be read.
As well as having an embedded location device, it will now be possible for the police and DVSA to capture information such as security breaches, the absence of a valid card and the speed recorded by the tachograph while the vehicle is still moving.
However, while vehicles fitted with the new tachographs will be required to have the technology required to broadcast potential offences installed right away, enforcement authorities do not need to be equipped with the remote detection equipment until 2034. It is understood that the DVSA has indicated that it doesn’t intend to purchase the equipment just yet and will wait until the smart tachographs have become more widespread before it starts investing in its own ‘receiving’ equipment.