Large vehicles, like lorries, heavy goods vehicles and coaches were all affected by the new laws put in place four years ago. Tachographs initially started off in an analogue format for drivers and employers to measure the speed of vehicles along with the distance the vehicle has travelled and monitoring breaks taken by the driver during shifts.

However what a wax-coated paper disc previously measured is now done by a digital smart card as technology has advanced in the driving industry. All commercial vehicles first registered on or after 1 May 2006 are now legally required to be fitted with digital tachographs, which means many drivers will be affected by the digital transition that has occurred over the past four years.

There are products on the market designed to accompany the digital tachograph system and make it easier for drivers to operate them and they are now becoming readily available for you or your employer to purchase.

Memory cards

Secure Digital (SD) memory cards are now available and cost less than ten pounds. If you shop around you will get a good price for a high storage specification. Something for around that price will get you about one gigabyte of storage which would allow for drivers to store approximately 8,000 downloads from their smart cards.

Digital card cleaning cloth

Just as you need cloths to clean the lenses on your glasses or your computer peripherals, you need one for your tachograph’s smart card. You must ensure that no dirt is affecting the accuracy of the readings. These cloths are normally reusable and come in packs of a dozen, so that should keep you going for a while.

Card holder

Your smart card contains essential data about your working patterns, which you may need to provide to an inspector in a printed format should you be stopped for a roadside check.

For this reason you need something to protect the card and prevent its loss. There are probably many costly solutions out there, but there is one that is simple and you won’t have to part with more £2 to £3 for simple contraption that holds and protects your card, which you can also attach to your keys or similar.

Digi-fob

This is a device, which allows the tachograph system manager or the driver to view the driver card data instantly without having to deal with any fiddly bits. It is conveniently designed to attach to your keys and is a ‘stand alone’ device, which cannot be linked to a PC or software, but does resemble the look of a flash drive making it a very handy size.

Data is represented logically using standardised symbols you will be familiar with. It works simply by inserting your smart card into the Digi-fob as you would a card in a chip and pin device at the supermarket. You can read data including last period of activity, last break, weekly rest, weekly summary, driving extensions, and driving limits such as drivers’ hours rules i.e. the 56 and 90-hour rules.