The Law & You

As you probably know, every new vehicle that needs a tachograph is now legally required to have a digital unit installed. While this doesn't make any difference to the role of the tachograph and hours your drivers can work, it changes how you need to meet your legal obligations for examining and retaining tachograph data.

Unlike the old analogue tachographs which produced a physical wax chart that could be filed away, the new digital tachographs record data digitally on driver smartcards and onto the digital tachograph itself.

As all fleet operators are still legally obliged to store this data for 12 months, you need a hardware tool that allows you to download this data to your computer and store it in a secure database.

Of course, you are still required to check that your drivers are complying with the EU Drivers' Hours and Working Time Directive. But as digital tachographs don't produce a physical chart for you to look at, you also need a software tool to check the data from your drivers' smartcards.

And that's where we can help.............

Aimed at owner-drivers or small fleets OPTAC is a simple and cost effective solution for managing your digital tachographs that allows you to download, store and view all your driver and vehicle activity data. Consisting of both a hardware data download tool and a software data viewer, the OPTAC fleet viewer is the complete compliance solution for just £475 + vat including full support. Initial 12 months software licence and support is included in purchase price, with an annual maintenance fee of £195 payable thereafter.

Is completely mobile, so it can be used in the office, around the yard or away from base Is simple to use: with only four buttons, all of which are clearly labelled Can store up to 20 full digital tachographs, over 500 smartcard downloads or a combination of both Is powered by two AA batteries Is an integrated Smartcard and Vehicle Unit solution

The OPTAC software......................

Transfers vehicle and driver data from the download tool Is simple to install and activate Supports multiple users Allows you to setup download reminders Stores your activity information in a secure database that's compliant with the Data Protection Act Allows you to backup and archive your activity information Can show and print seven days of activity either by driver or vehicle Has a zoom function that allows you to focus on a specific 24 hour period Shows and prints reports covering events, faults and missing downloads Can export activity information for drivers and vehicles, either individually or collectively Allows you to delete historical information that's no longer required Is supported by Stoneridge's dedicated Customer Support Team.

To order your OPTAC download tool or for further advise please contact Keith Pennington on 01942.230026 or e-mail us your enquiry.

For Drivers Hours rules and up date legal information from "VOSA" please click below