dieseldave:
Hi macplaxton,
IIRC, Mercedes (and perhaps other manufacturers) have written a 7-hour DCPC qualifying course on the ‘use of the tachograph’ or somesuch?
They may well have done, not seen it myself. Only 1st 2 modules of the RSA* course books.
dieseldave:
The other part of the course covering the actual driving Regs could always be taken with a pinch of salt, but surely the info given on that make’s preferred tacho head unit would be beneficial
The info would be useful, but the delivery method (boredom by Power Point Presentation) wouldn’t be.
dieseldave:
On the other hand (and I’m prepared to be wrong here,) didn’t tachograph have several links to original tacho head manufacturer’s instruction books on how the various tacho heads are to be operated?
The Stoneybridge** rev 7 instruction are missing from there I think, besides it actually works a country mile better than the old one for manual entries. Would be worth putting in. Some of the manufacturer’s “quick guides” are quite handy, although sometimes they lack key information, such as the button sequence needed to get the language back to English.
I’ve yet to meet an Actia, or the mythical beast which is the Delphi Grundig.
(*Road Safety Authority)
(**The menu must have been created by Stoneybridge Town Council )
dieseldave:
The other part of the course covering the actual driving Regs could always be taken with a pinch of salt, but surely the info given on that make’s preferred tacho head unit would be beneficial
The info would be useful, but the delivery method (boredom by Power Point Presentation) wouldn’t be.
Hi macplaxton,
That’s a very fair and interesting point mate, but then there’s course writers, and there’s course writers.
Just as in any other walk of life, there’s the good, the bad and the downright ugly.
Of course, a PowerPoint presentation on any subject needs to be interesting and engaging to the learner, but IMHO what makes or breaks a course in terms of learner interest is the style of delivery (ie, NOT just reading from the text from the slideshow) and the depth of the subject knowledge of the person presenting the course (= is able to answer all relevant questions confidently and without referring to notes.)
If you get an mediocre presentation from an mediocre presenter, then I’d completely agree with you that PowerPoint as a means of delivery can be mind-numbingly boring. Not all PowerPoint courses or presenters are of the same quality, but I do feel for anybody who has to endure mediocrity in any of the variables on a course.
Anyway, apart from the mind-numbing RSA course material. There is of course the gold-plating issue of having to do 7h per year and 42 hours for cat C&D here. So much for harmonised rules.
Apparently the 2 modules I’ve already done (the first two in the RSA list) “Control of Vehicle and Eco Driving Techniques” and “Minimising Risks and Managing Emergencies in the Transport Industry” are supposed to be transferable to the UK, leaving me 21 to complete there, so I decide to up-sticks. Any idea on the exact position from the UK end of things?
Anyway, apart from the mind-numbing RSA course material. There is of course the gold-plating issue of having to do 7h per year and 42 hours for cat C&D here. So much for harmonised rules.
Apparently the 2 modules I’ve already done (the first two in the RSA list) “Control of Vehicle and Eco Driving Techniques” and “Minimising Risks and Managing Emergencies in the Transport Industry” are supposed to be transferable to the UK, leaving me 21 to complete there, so I decide to up-sticks. Any idea on the exact position from the UK end of things?
Hi macplaxton,
I’ve no idea whether you’re aware of the UK equivalent, but here is their homepage just in case you need it:
I hope it helps, but if not, there’s a ‘contact us’ feature that you can use to get answers.
At the time I had dealings with them, they were pretty useless (maybe they’ve improved now,) so my advice is that you get any important answers from them in writing before you make any important decisions based on what they tell you.
Coffeeholic:
Maybe we should have some kind of training in place to solve this problem, some kind of certificate of competence.
Like most certs it’s a good idea in principle, but give that some current so called “trainers” don’t know their arse from there elbow about the regs… it probably would be a waste of time.
Better advice would probably be a thread like this to make drivers aware of the different behaviours of said tachos and get them to RTFM.
On the other hand the powers-that-be should have just written the regs so they all behaved in a similar way, then it’d be easier all round.
The regs are written so they all behave the same way. The only mode a tachograph unit is meant to record automatically is ‘drive’. The unit should not change the mode that the driver has set because the ignition is switched off. I always find it frustrating when the backlight goes off and its difficult to see if you’ve changed it correctly, and again it is meant to be illuminated i’m pretty sure thats in the type approval.
)
