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Changes in the ELD Era
In December 2017, the U.S. trucking industry was faced with a tough transition. Truck drivers were required to replace their existing paper logs with electronic logs under the new Electronic Logging Device (ELD) rule established by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). The goal of the ruling was to improve road safety and minimize road accidents. The final phase of the ELD mandate was set to go into effect on December 16th, 2019, which will require motor carriers to switch their old automatic onboard recording devices (AOBRDs) to ones that will meet the ELD certification standards set by the FMCSA.
Attempts to exempt small motor carriers, those with fewer than 20 trucks and less than 50 employees, from the ELD mandate are still being pursued by the Small Business in Transportation Coalition (SBTC). The FMCSA is allowing a second hearing to a petition that was originally denied in July. If the exemption were to pass this would lead to two classes of truck drivers, those using paper logs and those utilizing ELDs. The FMCSA has been opposed to this idea since the ELD rule was enacted. This, coupled with the fact that the majority of truck drivers would fall into the small motor carrier classification, leads industry experts to presume that the FMCSA won’t grant the exemption.
Based on enforcement and inspection data, the FMCSA has met some of its goals with the ELD mandate, most notably with the reduction in hours-of-service (HOS) violations in the fiscal year of 2019. However, the data also indicates there is still room for improvement. Violations for falsifying driver logs increased from 2018 and truck driver speeding violations have been on the rise from 2015-2018. The SBTC has increased in driver speeding at the forefront of their argument against the ELD ruling. However, with the improvements in HOS enforcement noted by the data, this most likely won’t provide them with the justification they need to amend or suspend the ELD mandate.
Contributor: April King
References:
https://www.joc.com/trucking-logistics/labor/challenge-eld-rule-resurfaces-fmcsa_20191105.html
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