Failure to comply with driving times and rest periods can be costly for drivers, and especially for businesses. If a driver is caught driving a truck on the road for two hours longer than the maximum permitted daily driving time, for example, a fine of 280 euros is made for each excessive half hour of driving time. Fines for violations such as this represent a risk that should not be underestimated. An extension to VDO's tried-and-tested solution now enables drivers to evaluate their driving times and rest periods.
More and more on-the-road checks on potential driving offences
A total of 618 vehicles were inspected in the special operation carried out by the Federal Office for Goods Transport (BAG) on 26 and 27 January this year alone. The operation cost drivers a total of 89,205 euros in security deposits. The consequences of violations that have been reported and assessed as fines undoubtedly pose a considerable financial risk for fleet management.
The BAG has already announced that it intends to continue carrying out nationwide checks focusing on cabotage, regular weekly rest periods and technical roadside inspections throughout 2022. Thanks to the DSRC interface (Dedicated Short Range Communication) of smart tachographs, it is becoming much easier for control authorities to identify suspicious vehicles and retrieve vehicle data and information on safety violations while driving. This means that time-consuming inspections will only have to be carried out where there is a suspicion of a violation.
Know the potential fines that can be imposed at any time
The probability of violation increases with the size of a fleet. This means there is a constant risk of fleets being issued with penalty notices. It all depends on how diligently vehicle crews comply with driving times and rest periods. With the new European ERRU criminal record in place, this can have serious consequences, up to and including the loss of Community licenses.
In order to better assess these imponderables, VDO has developed a new module as part of its TIS-Web® DMM 5.0 fleet management software. In future, the VDO catalogue of fines will help fleet managers to keep a constant eye on the financial impact of this risk. The catalogue matches data from the tachograph with the type of violation and the level of fines in each particular country. This enables fleet managers to quantify the precise fine risk every time data is downloaded from the tachograph.
Take the right action
The fines function will be available from April for all customers who have booked an Advanced or Professional package for TIS-Web® DMM 5.0. This expansion will start for Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain, with other EU countries to follow. By the way: TIS-Web® offers free trial access. Try it out. It's the best way of finding out whether the solution meets your needs. Click here for free trial access: https://www.fleet.vdo.de/tis-web-sales
