Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/698304
July 2016 | Overdrive | 33 smoking guns for moving violations long after the occurrences. (See page 38.) As shown in the chart above, the small- est carriers received a largely dispropor- tionate share of the 2015 hours violations. At the other end of the scale, the largest carriers have the lowest violation rates. It's widely assumed that use of electronic logging devices, which have proliferated among the largest carriers, plays a key role in compliance because the systems leave no obvious way other than back-offi ce manipulation to cheat drive time. Likewise, watchers have noted that when a carri- er implements electronic logs, its hours violation rate drops as form and manner violations, the most common type of log violation, virtually disappear. In Overdrive research this spring, only one in 10 inde- pendents with carrier authority reported using e-logs. Among drivers using e-logs, many have seen a certain "wave-through" eff ect in which offi cers give only scant attention to their e-log during inspections. The phenomenon has been so prevalent that a participant at a 2012 ATHS show in Ten- nessee was observed with a "powered by e-log" message painted on the driver-side door. But the operator was not using e-logs. In two states where hours enforcement is heaviest, Oregon truck-enforcement program manager David McKane and Major Jay Thompson of the Arkansas Highway Police both deny a selection bias aff ecting small carriers. They also believe sophistication of safety programs at larger carrier levels, with personnel dedicated to emphasizing compliance among drivers and other staff , might well be a more likely culprit for their lower violation rates. The enforcement disparity between the tiniest fl eets and the mega-fl eets is partly a result of evolving regulatory matters. It could hold greater importance as an intensifying dynamic plays out at the intersection of hours recording and regs enforcement. Last December, Congress pulled from public view the CSA Safety Measure- ment System's categorical percentiles and alert symbols, pending a review and possible revamp of the program. But the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration continues to move forward with its long-planned Safety Fitness Deter- Matt Cole The smallest carriers are feeling the heat of hours enforcement in select states, even as violations declined nationally in 2015 BY TODD DILLS The smallest carriers are feeling the heat of hours fi res Since CSA percentiles were pulled last December, have you been required to supply your private scores? OverdriveOnline.com poll No 67% Yes, by another party 4% Yes, by an insurance company 8% Yes, by a freight partner (broker, shipper) 21% Smallest carriers, biggest violators Shares of all hours of service violations issued in 2015, by carrier size. 1-4 trucks 28% 5-9 trucks 17% 10-19 trucks 15% 500 and more trucks 5% 20-49 trucks 17% 50-99 trucks 9% 100-249 trucks 7% 250-499 trucks 2% In 2015, carriers with fewer than 20 trucks, while accounting for fewer than 20 percent of all trucks on the road for-hire, received 60 percent of all hours of service violations. Use of elec- tronic logging devices, which have proliferated among larger carriers, appears to play a key role in compliance.