Security instead of fines: Scorecards based on tachograph data keep track of violations

Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany, September 29, 2021. Fleet violations always in view? VDO software for fleet and tachograph management from Continental will make this very easy in the future. To this end, Continental is adding new functionalities to its proven data management software, which was previously known under the name VDO TIS-Web. The new functions will enable fleet managers to better monitor violations recorded by tachographs in their fleets and to react before serious difficulties arise. Scorecards will record a number of different violations based on tachograph data, compare them with the classification of violations laid down in EU Regulation 2016/403 and provide an overview of the fleet’s current compliance score.

In this way, scorecards for VDO Fleet Tachograph Management offer a high degree of security and control to the responsible fleet staff – because instead of first noticing problems when sanctions are actually imposed, they can always see exactly where their fleet stands in this respect. They can then act as soon as their fleet performance deteriorates through violations. “Fleet managers are under great pressure to ensure compliance,” says Timo Ketterer, Head of Service Product Management in the Commercial Vehicle Fleet Services business segment at Continental. “We want to help them achieve this by giving them security. Those responsible can now see objectively if everything is in order or if they have to take action to remedy any issues.”

The EU Regulation 2016/403 keeps track of violations in numerous categories. In addition to important aspects like driving and rest periods, speeding and tachograph manipulation, they also monitor violations that are currently not included in tachograph data. Continental’s software is especially valuable to fleet managers because it enables them to estimate their scores in relation to European threshold values. At the same time, managers must be aware that national regulations may be stricter – a good reason to keep the numbers of violations as low as possible.

Ketterer cites very specific reasons for the increasing pressure: “Firstly, there was this year’s introduction of the ERRU messaging system in the European countries that had not been involved with the system up until then. So, violations abroad are now reported to the domestic authorities all over Europe. Secondly, the harmonization of the various national interpretations at the European level is expected to come into force in 2024. In many cases, this will result in the critical threshold of a fleet’s compliance score being reached more quickly.”