Blog: Driving and Rest Times

Tachograph Compliance – Driving Without a Driver Card and DCPC (Driver Certificate of Professional Competence)

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In the second quarter of 2024, at the Roadside Checks the enforcement agencies observed notable increases in tachograph offenses, specifically:

  1. Driving Without a Driver Card:
    • Increase: 35%
    • Implications: This rise suggests a growing issue with drivers failing to use their driver cards correctly. The driver card is crucial for recording driving times, breaks, and rest periods, ensuring compliance with regulations designed to prevent fatigue and ensure road safety. A significant increase in offenses might indicate lapses in compliance and potential safety risks.
    • Fines: Fines for driving without a driver card are substantial to deter such behaviour. They typically range from several hundred to several thousand euros depending on the jurisdiction. For example, fines might be up to €5,000 or more in some regions, and additional penalties could include vehicle impoundment or points on the driver’s license.
  2. Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (DCPC):
    • Increase: 22%
    • Implications: The rise in offenses related to the DCPC indicates a concern with drivers either lacking the required certification or failing to maintain it. The DCPC is essential for ensuring that professional drivers have the necessary skills and knowledge to operate safely and efficiently. This increase could point to issues with driver training or certification processes and could impact overall road safety and operational standards.
    • Driver Fines: Fines for not having a valid DCPC are also significant. They generally range from a few hundred to a few thousand euros, depending on the country. For example, fines in many European countries can range from around €1,000 to €2,000 or more and repeat offences may result in higher fines or additional legal consequences.
    • Operator Fines: For the operator are 5 times higher in many European countries for allowing a driver without a valid DCPC to operate and drive a commercial vehicle.

Overall, these increases in offences will lead to more and stricter enforcement to raise awareness of compliance requirements among drivers and operators.

With Idha-Online and proDRIVERS you can avoid these pitfalls by regularly checking that you know all your drivers and that they are on your payroll.

How to check and avoid hassle or digital tachograph audit go to https://prodrivers.ie/idha-online-tachograph-compliance/

 

 

proDRIVERS – ESPORG Secured Parking Facilities

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Study on safe and secure parking places for commercial vehicles

We’d love it if you could spare a few minutes to take part in the survey below and share it with your employees, colleagues, constituents and network.

This survey is part of a study on the availability of suitable rest facilities for professional drivers and of secure parking facilities, as well as on the development of safe and secure parking facilities in the EU (MOVE/C1/SER/2023-138).

The study is being funded and carried out by the European Commission. We’d love to hear from drivers, coach operators, transport companies and other stakeholders in the industry.

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Further Extension to Driver CPC cards

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Message from the Driver Education | Road Safety Authority | 04th March 2021 > Further Extension to Driver CPC cards > To: All Professional Drivers’, Driver CPC Trainer and Driver CPC Training Organisations > > Due to the continued Covid-19 situation, with effect from 6 March, 2021 driver CPC cards will be further extended by […]

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RSA Update for Driver CPC Training 31 Dec 2020

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RSA Update for Driver CPC Training 31 Dec 2020   As you are all aware the Government has announced Level 5 restrictions across the State from midnight 30th December until 31 st January 2021 in a bid to curtail the spread of Covid-19.   Although the country is moving to Level 5 the RSA’s position […]

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EU Drivers Hours rules change today: 20th August 2020

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  From today, Thursday 20th August 2020, there will be some changes to EU Drivers Hours rules. These include: A major reform of the EU road transport sector, known as the mobility package. The new rules will improve drivers’ working conditions, introduce special posting rules for drivers in international transport, and update provisions on access […]

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Mobility Package and the headlines in the media

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As soon as Mobility Package was adopted by the European Parliament on July 9, 2020, it was reported in all the media. Almost every report was overwritten with a statement that is so general and out of context that it does not correspond to the truth. And the key message of the heading was often […]

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European Court of Justice judgment on the recording of working hours

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A recent ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) is once again causing a stir and excitement. There is the talk of bureaucracy monsters and regression in the age of trust work. It is about the obligation to record the working hours of employees. What will the decision really change in the company? It […]

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MEPs return mobility package proposals to committee for further consideration

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heavy traffic moving at speed on the motorway

MEPs rejected proposed amendments to the “Mobility Package” road haulage reform proposals and referred them back to the Transport Committee for reconsideration.

In a vote on Wednesday (04 July 2018), the Full House rejected Transport Committee amendments to the proposals on updating drivers’ rest time rules, cabotage and posting of drivers and referred them back to the committee for further consideration, in accordance with Rule 59(4) of Parliament’s rules of procedure.

The proposals on the posting of drivers, drivers’ rest periods and access to the occupation of road transport operator and to the road haulage market are part of the “Mobility Package” tabled by the EU Commission in May 2017.

(source: News European Parliment)