Under EU and national law, the cab of trucks and buses must be fitted with recording devices known as tachographs. Their function is to record the driving times, breaks and rest periods of individual drivers. Vehicle speed, distance travelled and other related metrics are also logged.
Data is stored in mass memory inside the unit and on driver-specific smart cards. In Ireland, the Road Safety Authority is the legal body responsible for issuing these cards.
The records must be available for inspection by enforcement officers to ensure that the laws governing driver hours and rest times are fully complied with.
Failure to comply with these requirements could result in prosecution by the RSA. Although most commercial vehicles must carry a tachograph, there are some classes of vehicle that are exempt.
Switch from analogue to digital tachographs
Digital tachographs became mandatory within the EU in May 2006. They replace the old analogue recording devices in all new commercial trucks and buses.
Tachograph cards
Central to the introduction of digital tachograph technology is the provision of smart cards for use by drivers, companies, calibration workshops and enforcement officers.
The pages in this section explain what each card does and how you can apply for them: