MOZAMBICAN GOVERNMENT MAKES TACHOGRAPHS MANDATORY

The Mozambican government on Tuesday approved a decree obliging long distance bus and truck drivers to spend no more than four hours uninterrupted at the wheel, in an attempt to reduce the number of accidents on the country’s roads. Speaking to reporters at the end of a meeting of the Council of Ministers (Cabinet), the government spokesperson, Deputy Health Minister Mouzinho Saide, said “the accidents with the greatest impact involve passenger transport vehicles and trucks, mostly long distance vehicles. The drivers are subject to great pressure, working for long hours without intervals for rest”. This led to greater stress, and tired drivers were slower to react in the event of anything unexpected, he added. To ensure implementation of the decree, all long distance trucks and buses must be fitted with a tachograph. This is a device that automatically records the speed of the vehicle, the distance covered, and the time spent stationary, presumed to be the driver’s rest periods. The tachograph will allow the traffic police and the owners of the vehicles to check on the driver’s activity, particularly whether the rest periods, and the maximum period for uninterrupted driving are being respected. Tachographs are mandatory in many countries, including the entire European Union and South Africa. Modern trucks are manufactured with a tachograph already installed. Older trucks in service on Mozambican roads must now have them installed. The use of the tachograph becomes obligatory 180 days after the publication of the government decree in the official gazette, the “Boletim da Republica”. That period provided enough time for tachographs to become available on the Mozambican market, said Saide.