organization, we want to do what we can to make them available to smaller carriers and do our part to help their dissemination throughout our industry.” Meanwhile, TXTA members will be
able to take advantage of TXTA’s most useful resource: their fellow carriers who can share the results of their own experiences. “We’re not just going to let provider A
give you a presentation on their product and tell our members they are the best thing since sliced bread,” Esparza said. “We’re going to let all these providers do their work out in the field, and then we’re going to start bringing in company mem- bers that can say, ‘You know what? I’ve tried these three, and this is the one I like, and this is why.’” The Owner-Operator Independent
Drivers Association, which represents independent drivers, has challenged the rule in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. According to OOIDA’s website, the rule does not improve safety and violates the U.S. Constitution’s 4th Amendment protection against
unreasonable searches and seizures. For motor carriers, there are challeng-
es and downsides with the technology. Unlike with paper logs, there’s no way to fudge if there is an unexpected delay. If a driver reaches his or her limit 30 minutes from home, he or she either parks the truck or violates the rule. Meanwhile, drivers no longer can use a 15-minute stop at a cus- tomer’s dock as a means of fulfilling the required 30-minute rest break. Fifteen minutes doesn’t count as 30 with an ELD. The mandate long has been sought by
the American Trucking Associations. David Saunders, president of WorkforceQA, a third party compliance partner who has served on the ATA’s Regulations Committee since 1999, said he doesn’t remember a time that there has been opposition on the committee to the mandate. The only issue has been the com- mittee’s desire for technical clarity and uniform specifications. Saunders, who drove a truck in the
1980s and whose brother is still a driver, said he encourages motor carriers to adopt the technology because of its many advan-
tages. He said that on the FMCSA’s website showing closed enforcement cases, hours of service violations are the number one vio- lation, and it’s a much smaller problem with ELDs. “Now I know I can truly charge the
shipper,” he said. “I know now that I can really run this route. I know now that if I’m in an accident or a crash, I can prove whether I was or was not out of hours. That’s why the adoption rule in the ELD has been so positive. The only ones that may stray away from the ELD would prob- ably be because of the fear of not knowing it, or the fear of I’m going to lose drivers if I install it. That’s just not the case – not all the way around. The statistics don’t prove that.”
Saunders said ELDs protect drivers by
making it clear to shippers how many hours they have remaining. It takes them out of a situation where the shipper says it will use a different carrier if the driver doesn’t bring the load. Now, the driver knows that his carrier’s CSA scores will be affected if he drives. He said shippers are becoming more reluctant to push at least
38 Summer 2016
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