the larger carriers to drive when they are out of hours because if they threaten to pull their business and there’s an accident, they can be named in a lawsuit. He said carriers more and more are
embracing the technology as their concerns about costs, driver acceptance and privacy have been answered. “I always encourage them to do the
ELD, and the reason behind that is pure economics,” he said. “That way you’ll know the activity of the driver and you’ll be able to tell your customers the status of that driver and when that shipment will be delivered or picked up.” Saunders also served for years on the
Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s Traffic Enforcement Committee. He said the law enforcement community strongly supports the mandate. It reduces the temp- tation for truckers to violate hours of ser- vice rules and makes it easier for law enforcement to enforce the regulation by tracking a driver’s hours in real time. Meanwhile, officers don’t have to
spend their time investigating drivers. With paper logs, an officer must rely on a
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 ADVANTAGES. HE SAID THAT ON THE FMCSA’S
WEBSITE SHOWING CLOSED ENFORCEMENT CASES, HOURS OF SERVICE VIOLATIONS ARE THE NUMBER ONE VIOLATION, AND IT’S A MUCH SMALLER PROBLEM WITH ELDs.
roadside interview to ascertain guilt. That involves checking the time, asking the driver where he’s coming from and what time he left, and then gauging whether the driver might be lying by how realistic his answers are and how well they line up with the logbook. In contrast, if a driver has tampered with or unplugged an ELD, the
officer knows it. The regulation applies only to
interstate trucking, but Saunders anticipates a day when states, including Texas, will require it for intrastate driving as well to ensure they qualify for federal highway funding and to ensure uniformity and reciprocity. R
Summer 2016
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