Just over a week ago, authorities in the Netherlands revealed that they are now testing tech that can check tachograph data remotely from the roadside. Now police in Germany are doing the same; tests are currently being conducted on the A4 motorway in Saxony.
According to mdr.de, Germany’s Ministry of the Interior is hoping the new tech will allow police to carry out more objective and faster controls – especially on border traffic in the Görlitz region.
Just like in the Netherlands, the German authorities will use a system with Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) equipment. Saxony is the first federal state where the DSRC system will be introduced across the board.
According to the ministry, the police can use the tech to determine whether there are any abnormalities in a truck without having to stop it. The data should provide officers information from trucks' tachographs, including whether the power supply has been interrupted or if the driver’s card is invalid. If the system detects irregularities in the tachograph, the officers will then conduct thorough checks on that truck. The data shall only be stored for the duration of the control, it is said.
Frank Wobst, the head of the Görlitz traffic police inspectorate, says the new deployment technology will make a major contribution to increasing traffic safety as the traffic police shall able to work more “precisely and successfully”.
According to the authorities in Saxony, the number of trucks on motorways in the area the Görlitz police department is responsible for has almost doubled from 5,693 per day in 2010 to 10,820 per day in 2020. Saxony’s Minister of the Interior believes the tech will mean that visually inconspicuous vehicles can be controlled in a targeted manner.
Photo credit: Inspectie Leefomgeving en Transport (ILT)