While the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s electronic logging device (ELD) mandate goes into effect on Dec. 18th of this year, truckers will not be issued out-of-services due to compliance failure until next year, according to an announcement by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) earlier this week.
The CVSA advised that beginning Dec. 18th, inspectors will be able to issue citations, as well as fines, for trucks not equipped with an ELD; however, out-of-services will not be issued until April 1, 2018, giving carriers and drivers more time to adjust to the changes. 1
Additionally, in order to replace paper logbooks, carriers will be allowed to “use a grandfathered automatic onboard recording device until December 16, 2019.” 2
The FMCSA expects ELDs to save nearly 26 lives and prevent over 500 injuries a year, along with stopping drivers from falsifying paper logs. 3A 2014 study by the agency demonstrated that those trucks equipped with the device had 11.7% less crashes and 50% less hours-of-service violations when compared to those still utilizing paper logs.2
But not all are in favor of the mandate. Groups, such as the Owner-Operator Independent Association (OOIDA), have been arguing to suspend the ruling due to driver harassment/privacy concerns, cost, and increased capacity restraints. No doubt, ELDs will cause a need to increase driver pay as well as raise transportation costs.
While OOIDA has so far been unsuccessful in its attempts to delay the ruling, the group reached out to the government once again this week, explaining that “26 states have not incorporated electronic logging regulations into their law and cannot enforce the rules until then.” 4
The CVSA encouraged the FMCSA to proceed with the implementation stating that carriers already had two years to prepare for the mandate and thus, there should be no further delay.2
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1https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=bc0478b4-27ce-47e2-854d-cadaab70b6e5
