Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/369526
J.J. KELLER'S COMPLIANCE CORNER • • • By Bob Rose • • • MANY COMPANIES ARE actively investigating electronic logging devices (ELDs) because of the wide range of benefi ts they can offer. Others are waiting until there's a mandate to install them. Either way, it's very likely that there will be a mandate coming in the not-to-distant future. Now, it's evident that many drivers don't like this change within the transportation industry. Some feel that they are losing their freedom, "big brother" is watching them, and that these rules are being made by people who have never spent a minute behind the wheel of a big rig! Others feel that, fi nally, they will be protected from unreasonable customer demands, or dispatcher/company pressure and harassment to drive beyond the legal limits of the hours-of-service rules. Not all of management is enthusiastic about this either. They see their costs rising not only in the purchase of ELDs, but also in the installation costs and downtime of vehicles, maintenance costs in keeping the ELDs reporting accurately, and in training costs not only to drivers, but also to supervisors in planning their dispatches and meeting customer demands. Too much talk without a full understanding of the subject at hand usually causes these statements. Rather than argue one way or the other, let's look at how this matter came about and what it means to you, the one trying to make a living the best way you know how, the one caught in the middle of this entire controversy, the driver of the commercial motor vehicle whose earnings depend on the opportunity to drive. How did this happen and does it apply to me? The highway bill known as MAP- 21 took effect in the fall of 2012 and included an ELD mandate, making it a federal law that the DOT must issue a rule requiring all interstate CMV drivers who are subject to the hours-of-service rules in Part 395 to begin using ELDs two years after the fi nal rule is issued. Further details state that motor carriers operating in interstate commerce and subject to the logging requirements in Section 395.8 would be required to install and use ELDs on all their commercial motor vehicles (specifi cally interstate commercial vehicles that weigh or are rated over 10,000 pounds, are any size hauling placardable hazmat, and certain types of passenger- carrying vehicles). In other words, drivers who are required to log today would have to switch to using ELDs two years after this proposed rule is fi nalized. Because the proposal would apply to drivers who have to log, there is an exception for drivers who use the ELDs- Not a Matter of 'If,' but 'When' 16 DrivingForceMag.com September 2014 • • •