Photo: ILT

Dutch transport inspectorate starts digital tachograph inspections

The Dutch Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT) has started digital inspections of the tachograph files of trucks and buses. The ILT is now requesting road transport firms to send them the tachograph data online.

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According to the ILT, the aim of the move is to “take the next step towards digital supervision”. From now on, companies in the road transport sector may receive a request from inspectors to submit their tachograph files digitally via a web form. The ILT shall then use the data to analyze to what extent the companies comply with the rules for driving and rest times in road transport.

Project leader Martijn Klaassen says that by sending data online, time is saved for both companies and the inspectors:

“Efficiency and effectiveness are paramount for us at ILT, but certainly also for the entrepreneurs. The companies can quickly and easily share their files with us, without the need for an inspector to visit them, which is often a time-consuming visit. After all, good compliance means fewer inspections. We can process the data faster and thus gain a better understanding of compliance within the market. The advantage is also that the companies themselves quickly gain insight into how they are doing when it comes to compliance with driving and rest times. They receive feedback from our findings and can use them, if necessary.”

More information about digital inspections can be found at www.ilent.nl/tacho-vorm.

The Dutch Transport Inspectorate have announced a number of other changes in recent times to clamp down on hauliers flouting the rules. In May, the ILT said it would be checking tachograph data from young companies without records, and more recently, the inspectorate announced it was testing remote tachograph-reading technology.

Last week, ILT inspectors also fined two drivers €1,500 each as the truckers had registered rest on their tachographs despite being transported in a company minibus.