Using tachographs for heavy vehicles can help save lives

I am an ARC holder of UK origin and have lived in Taiwan for almost 5 years now.

It is a country I love and that I hope I can stay in.

I am a logistics professional and have spent a large part of my career managing the operation of large fleets of heavy trucks in the UK and Europe.

In the UK especially, there are much fewer problems with accidents involving trucks and buses, due to the effective regulation that is in force.

All commercial vehicles, over 7.5t GVW (Gross Vehicle Weight) have to be fitted with a tachograph including buses and coaches.

This is a device that records the hours worked, the distance traveled and the speed of the vehicle.

Every drive has to use a tachograph and each driver must carry their previous week's tachograph charts with them, so they can be inspected in case of an incident, or if they are stopped for any reason.

This, combined with regulation of drivers' working hours and mandatory breaks, makes driving safer and has been proven to reduce accidents involving heavy vehicles.

However, in addition to the individual driver's responsibility, every operating site where vehicles are based has to have a licensed manager holding what is called an 'O' License, which you have to qualify for by studying transport law and passing an exam.

This person is legally responsible for ensuring that vehicle maintenance is carried out according to manufacturers' specifications, there is regular inspection of vehicles between maintenance and for managing and maintaining the files of these records, plus all historical driver tachographs.

At any reasonable time, any operating site can be visited by Transport officials and these records inspected.

If there are minor problems a warning can be issued, however, if significant problems are found, the 'O' License holder can be punished by the disqualification and loss of the 'O' License for the manager and potential suspension or loss of the heavy vehicle driving license for drivers.

In extreme cases, entire companies can be banned from operating and, effectively, put out of business.

These rules apply to all operators, whether operating 1 or 100 vehicles, as it is often smaller operators who will flout the law, because they think it is easier to hide one 'blue' truck amongst thousands (in the UK, 'blue' trucks are white!) and every operator is subject to regular inspection.

Whilst there was an initial resistance to the introduction of tachographs, mainly due to the cost, it has resulted in a much safer driving environment for workers in the industry, consumers of services and the general public. I apologize for the lengthy letter but this is a very serious subject and there are proven regulations to improve this in other countries that Taiwan could adapt.

Additionally, with the strengths in IT and R&D, I am sure Taiwan could radically improve the technology for other countries.

To finally comment on your editorial, the problem is not so much in the equipment but in the use and management of the equipment.

Low cost is not “low” if the ultimate cost is the loss of a life.

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