Israel Moves Forward with Digital Tachograph Implementation

The Knesset's Economic Committee, led by MK David Bitan, approved today for the second and third readings the government's proposal to amend the Transportation Ordinance in order to complete the transition to digital tachograph. The amendment is designed, among other things, to enable the police to enforce and demand the production or copying of the information stored in the digital tachograph, and even to delay a person or vehicle in order to produce or copy the information, provided that the delay does not exceed one hour.

The committee held several discussions on the proposal and against the backdrop of the war on road fatalities, Chairman Bitan and MK Shalom Dinenin pressured all bodies to share the information received from the digital tachograph and pass it on to the police for enforcement. In a discussion held last week, Adi Ben Lish, Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Transportation, said that there is currently no technological interface between the Ministry of Transportation and the police. Following the demand raised in the committee, Ben Lish announced that within a year the Ministry of Transportation and the police will present a task force for the development of technological interfaces for the transfer of information between all bodies, as part of the war on road accidents, through which enforcement can be carried out. The police representative, Chief Superintendent Amir Lipshitz, said that the police would be a partner in any such task force and would examine how to transfer the information correctly and what could be done with it.

The possibility of expanding the obligation to use the digital tachograph to other types of vehicles also arose in previous meetings. Today, the regulations stipulate that the obligation to use the digital tachograph applies to buses and heavy vehicles over 8 tons, with the proposal being to apply the obligation also to minibuses. A representative of the Ministry of Transportation, Attorney Sigalit Barkai Wakil, noted that the ministry intends to expand the list of vehicles in the future. Against this background, the committee added a new clause to the proposal, according to which four years after the law comes into effect, the Minister of Transportation will examine the types of vehicles on which the obligation to install a digital tachograph will apply, and will consider imposing the obligation on other types of vehicles and report on the examination to the Economic Committee.

The chairman of the Drivers and Transporters Council, Gabi Ben Harush, wanted to remind that in Europe the use of the digital tachograph began in 2006, while in Israel a government decision was made as early as 2005 and there is still no use of the technology. He added that even if the digital tachograph is used, it is impossible to comply with the regulations of working hours and rest because the regulations are unclear and have not been corrected to this day. He added that in Europe there are organized rest parking lots for drivers and in Israel there are none and it is forbidden to stop on the sidelines even to change a wheel.

A representative of the Bar Association, Attorney Kfir David, addressed the issue of the length of the delay and said that even in a drunk driving offense there is authority to delay up to half an hour, and it is not reasonable that a truck or bus driver who is not suspected of anything will stand aside for a whole hour. He even warned that such a delay could lead to the driver violating the regulations of working hours and rest the second he is released. The Ministry of Transportation explained that an hour is the maximum time required to download the data from the tachograph if it has not been checked for a whole year. They also explained that it is likely that the first data download will take time, but the time will shorten in subsequent downloads.

A representative of the Green Light Association, Din Steinbach, said that the police's authority to enforce regularly through the tachograph should be expanded, not just after accidents. He also noted that the transition to the digital tachograph is a process that has been going on for 20 years and wanted to make sure it does not continue for another 20 years.