What went wrong?
Many drivers fail to correctly enter manual activities that fall outside the tachograph’s automatic recordings. This includes activities while stationary, setting country codes, or tasks performed before starting to drive. While border crossings are registered automatically and do not directly constitute a violation, grey areas often arise in trip data when manual entries are not completed properly.
A common situation is that a driver forgets to indicate what they did before inserting their driver card at the start of their shift. Once the card is inserted, the tachograph will ask what occurred during the period before insertion. If this question is not answered or answered incorrectly, a hierarchical ‘gap’ in the timeline — also referred to as an unknown activity or grey area — is created. During inspections by the ILT (Inspectorate for Transport and Environment), this can lead to further questions or even administrative fines, depending on the severity and frequency.
It looks like this in the software:
What are the consequences?
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Incomplete registration of driving and rest times
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Grey areas in digital tachograph data
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Risk of fines or warnings during ILT inspections
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Loss of insight into the actual deployment of drivers
How can you prevent this?
Correctly completing manual entries is essential for a comprehensive trip administration. This requires both discipline from the driver and support from the organisation:
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Train your drivers on how to use the manual entry function accurately and completely. Make sure they know when and how to record rest or working periods, especially at the start of the day.
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Use tachograph analysis software to automatically detect gaps in the timeline. Systems like Digitac Web can identify unknown activities and report them clearly, so you can immediately see where corrections are needed.
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Set up a monitoring and correction process. Actively discuss any missing or incorrect entries with drivers when reading out the tachograph card, and give them the opportunity to correct these. This helps prevent recurring mistakes and raises awareness.
Conclusion
At first glance, manual entries may seem like a minor part of trip registration, but in practice, they are an important point of attention. By taking a clear approach and using supporting software, you can avoid ambiguities and maintain control over compliance with driving and rest time regulations.
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