Everything You Should Know About Electronic Logging Devices

Bay Area Trucking Services Company Discusses the Coming Changes in Electronic Logging

An electronic logging device (ELD) is an electronic solution designed to enable commercial motor carriers and professional truck drivers, an easy means of tracking their Hours of Service (HOS) Compliance. This compliance was brought forward by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) in a bid to curb driver cheating, which was highly prevalent in the old system of paper logging. By 17th December 2017, all drivers affected by this rule are expected to have fully complied.

Specifications

According to the new FMCSA rules concerning ELD compliance, certain performance and technical specifications must be adhered to, in order to be fully compliant. Therefore a fully compliant ELD must:

• Be always connected to the vehicle’s engine, in order to determine or record whether the truck is in motion.
• Permit the driver to log into the system and select various options including On-Duty, On-Duty Not Driving, and Off-Duty. Additionally, the ELD must allow automatic selection of drive segments based on the truck’s movement.
• Provide information and data in a standardized format. This way, the data will be easy to transmit to law enforcement agencies using various prescribed means such as Bluetooth 2.0, USB or wireless web services.
• Graphically display Record of Duty Status. This is to provide a quick means for the driver to see the daily hours.
• Be installed by a certified provider, while ensuring that it meets all the laid-down specifications.

Benefits

Apart from preventing driver cheating, the FMCSA believes that ELDs have the ability to prevent more than 1800 crashes and 500 injuries while saving more than 20 lives in the process. Most of the crashes that involve trucks and truck drivers occur due to exhausted drivers. This way, exhausted drivers will be kept off the roads.

Additionally, this system is going to eliminate close to $1.6 billion in terms of paperwork costs for law enforcement agencies and motor carriers, according to the FMCSA. As it stands, most of the large carriers and intermodal service providers in the industry such as Werner Enterprises, UPS and FedEx are already using electronic trucking systems to record the behavior and time of their truck drivers.

Challenges

The rule is also facing some challenges in the transportation logistics industry. For example, independent truck drivers believe that the move is somehow intrusive. They believe it is a move by the government to monitor and track them, even in their personal lives. Some are already considering retiring, just before it comes into effect. The cost of these ELDs is another concern.

According to the FMCSA, Electronic Logging Devices will encourage better driver behavior and minimize the number of accidents caused by exhausted truck drivers.

R&A Trucking Company is an Oakland Family owned business that provides trucking, logistics, intermodal, and warehousing services to Bay Area clients small and large. If you have any inquiries, please don’t hesitate to call us at (510)632-7112