Roadside check south of Trondheim
At 08:40 on a Tuesday in April you are waved into a Statens vegvesen control station on the E6 south of Trondheim as part of a combined EU/EEA roadside check. You drive a 2019 Norwegian-registered tractor unit with a 2021 semi-trailer, carrying general cargo for a customer in Oslo. In the cab you have a driver card that expired nine days ago, a tachograph whose last calibration label is dated 26 months ago, a periodic inspection report for the tractor unit showing the next inspection due in three weeks, and a weigh ticket of 41,750 kg against a permitted total weight of 42,000 kg on the registration card. You applied online to renew the card three weeks ago and the confirmation is on your phone. The officer also notes that the speed limiter is set at 92 km/h. You are 380 km from the destination and due to reload tomorrow morning at 06:00.
1. Rank the findings by how seriously they affect your right to drive today, and give the correct response to each.
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1. Expired driver card (nine days) A card is valid only to its expiry date, and without a valid card the record goes to the unit's memory instead. There is an EU/EEA provision allowing a driver to continue for up to 15 calendar days when a card has been lost, stolen, damaged or is awaited after a renewal application, and you have the application confirmation. Treat it as a concession you must document, not a right: print the start-of-day and end-of-day records, carry them with the confirmation, and keep inside the 15 days.
2. Tachograph calibrated 26 months ago The interval is two years, so the unit is out of calibration. This is an operator defect. The officer may require a calibration before the vehicle continues.
3. Speed limiter at 92 km/h Heavy vehicles must be limited to 90 km/h. This is a defect to be corrected at a workshop, not something you can adjust.
4. Inspection due in three weeks No issue today. The weights are within limits.
The driver card is the only finding that touches your personal right to drive; the rest are the operator's.
2. What does a tachograph calibration actually establish, and why does 26 months matter beyond the sticker?
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What the workshop does With the unit's seals opened, the calibration records and checks:
- the vehicle's constant, the impulses per kilometre;
- the effective tyre circumference, which changes whenever a different tyre size is fitted;
- the UTC time, which must sit within the permitted tolerance;
- the registration number and odometer reading;
- the seals themselves.
Why the date matters The whole record of speed, distance and time rests on those parameters. A wrong tyre circumference means every distance and speed figure is wrong. A clock that has drifted shifts every activity of the day. That is why an out-of-calibration unit is treated as not recording reliably: the printouts stop being neutral evidence and the driver's own manual entries and signed notes become the only dependable account. An accurate-looking printout from a unit that has not been calibrated is worth very little in a dispute about a fine.
3. Who is responsible for what here, and what must you and your operator do before the vehicle leaves the station?
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Split of responsibility
- You, the driver: holding a valid card, correct mode use, manual entries, daily walk-round checks, securing the load, and refusing a plan that requires an invalid card.
- The operator: calibration dates, periodic inspections, speed limiter settings, and planning that fits the rules. Both parties can be sanctioned, and the roadside check is written up against both.
Before it leaves
- Print and sign the day's record and any manual entry needed to explain the card situation, and keep the renewal confirmation with the records.
- Agree in writing that the calibration and limiter adjustment are booked, and get the booking reference.
- Note every finding on the daily defect report so the operator cannot later claim it was unaware.
- Check that 28 days of records are in the vehicle and readable.
Do not accept a reload at 06:00 the next morning if the correction work will not be finished in time. The reload is the operator's problem to re-plan, not yours to solve by driving illegally.