Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/911782
December 2017 | Overdrive | 31 A s of Dec. 18, states and their federal truck enforcement partners were to begin issuing violations, citations and in some cases fines to those subject to the electronic logging mandate who aren't using e-logs. It's anybody's best guess as to how many truckers that includes, but Overdrive's latest polling, conducted through mid-November, suggested it could well be a lot of truckers indeed. At that time, as illustrated in the poll results on this page, about a third of readers hadn't prepared for mandate compliance and were unsure about their plans. CarrierLists.com, around the same time as Overdrive's polling was conducted, issued its own results from surveying the small fleets in its third-party carrier- procurement service for brokers and shippers. Among nearly 2,000 carriers operating one to 70 trucks, 60 percent of the fleets were not ELD-compliant. Surveys by other entities late in the year showed similar results. Some of Overdrive's survey respondents planned to deal with noncompliance consequences and hold off implement- ing until closer to April Fool's Day. That's when the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance's out-of-service criteria calls for putting more teeth in punish- ment for not complying. FMCSA last month announced inten- tions to issue a 90-day enforcement delay for agricultural haulers, including but not limited to livestock operations. And the agency also signaled around the same time that ELD-related violations prior to April 1 would not be accom- panied by severity weights to count toward carriers' Compliance, Safety, Accountability system scores. As for the question on many truck- ers' minds – just how lenient inspectors might be in the early going – it's likely to vary considerably from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, officer to officer. However, THE MANDATE DESCENDS The mandate's phased-in enforcement through April 1 does not necessarily mean a full delay in issuing fines or documenting violations, says CVSA's Colin Mooney. Owner-operators' e-log adoption status OverdriveOnline.com poll, results as of mid-November Ready for the December enforcement date 31% Other 2% Retiring or quitting before yearend 14% Will take a chance with violations and fines, remaining noncompliant until April 1 out-of-service enforcement date 7% Not ready, unsure about plans 26% Exempt from the mandate 20% As ELD use becomes the law of the land and thou- sands of truckers still lack the devices, expect a somewhat soft start for enforcement, unavoidable violations, some poorly trained inspectors and spotty use of federal data transfer software. BY TODD DILLS In November, a slight majority of mostly owner-operator readers of Overdrive indicated they were fully prepared to be using e-logs at the Dec. 18 enforcement date of the ELD mandate, if they planned to keep on trucking. Of those who said they were prepared, though, about a third hadn't begun using e-logs yet. Max Heine