Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/649008
Voices 10 | Overdrive | March 2016 A recent survey shows smaller carriers are much less likely to require leased owner-operators of pre-2000 model-year equipment to run with an electronic logging device. Most larger fleets would, however, require ELDs on those trucks if mechanically feasible. The survey was con- ducted by Overdrive sister magazine Commercial Carrier Journal. Compliance with the Fed- eral Motor Carrier Safety Administration's ELD man- date, scheduled to begin enforcement in December 2017, would not be required for pre-2000 trucks. Among Overdrive readers, 34 percent reported running 1999 model-year or older equipment. Eight in every 10 pieces of such equipment on the road are run under the authority of carriers with fewer than 10 trucks. Other large/small fleet disparities were evident in CCJ's survey. Among fleets running the current versions of electronic logs, few larger carriers – 18 percent – say they'd avoid installation of ELDs on owned pre-2000 trucks. None in the same group said they'd take them off of pre-2000 trucks already equipped for e-logs. Among fleets with fewer than 10 trucks, however, 48 percent would avoid installation, and 3 percent would re- move e-logs from currently outfitted trucks. Fleets' plans for ELD exemption ELD policy expectation for leased owner-operators with pre-2000 trucks SOURCE: CCJ 2016 ELD Survey Will not require ELDs 68% Carriers with 10 or more trucks Carriers with fewer than 10 trucks Will not require ELDs 30% Will require ELDs if mechanically feasible 70% Will require ELDs if mechanically feasible 32% Todd Dills The 34-hour restart truly is not about tweaking the system to be able to run more hours in a normal week, but more so about the logic that [most] every other American takes two days off and starts a fresh week. Heck, doctors and nurses work 16-plus hours daily, some for months straight with no days off, and they cut people open, stick [them with] needles, and ultimately hold some- one's life in their ability to perform their duties. So technically the limitations on hours driven in a week has no real merit other than [satisfying] someone whining about not getting time off. ... Sorry, cupcake, you're out here to work, not be on vacation. — Scott Cochran, responding to news in February that the 34-hour restart in the hours of service may be in jeopardy. 34-hour restart: A surrogate weekend How will the new e-log rule affect us that are under 26,000 lbs.? — Sam Hart, Newburgh, Ind. Sorry, Sam, but the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration did not allow for any size-related exemption from the electronic logging device requirement as written in its final rule. Vehicles of 1999 model year or older are exempt from complying, and the agency sets a threshold for short-haul drivers who only keep hours of service records of duty status part of the time. Otherwise, under the terms of the final rule, you'll need an ELD if you're operating with a log book for eight days out of any given 30-day period. Todd Dills Source: 2016 ELD Survey Bigger carriers are more likely than small ones to pass on using the ELD exemption for pre-2000 trucks.