U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said last week that the final electronic device rule rolled out by The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration would bring logging records into the modern age allowing safety inspectors to “unmask violations of federal law that put lives at risk.”
The rule will take effect in two years, but if a carrier installs a compliant advanced onboard recording device prior to the compliance date, it will have the option to continue using that device for an additional two years beyond the compliance data, as reported by Brian Straight in Fleet Owner.
The agency added that, on an annual average basis, use of ELDs should help save 26 lives and prevent 1,844 crashes involving large commercial motor vehicles annually.
The reduction in paperwork would result in an annual net benefit of more than $1 billion – largely by reducing paperwork – and will also increase the efficiency of roadside law enforcement personnel in reviewing the driver records.
FMCSA noted several key elements and impacts from its ELD final rule:
- It establishes a two-year compliance window for commercial truck and bus drivers to adopt ELDs.
- The agency anticipates that approximately three million commercial vehicle drivers will be impacted by the ELD mandate.
- The ELD rule strictly prohibits driver harassment by providing both procedural and technical provisions to prevent harassment resulting from ELD-generated information.
- A separate FMCSA rulemaking further safeguards drivers from being coerced to violate HOS regulations, providing the agency with the authority to take enforcement actions not only against motor carriers, but also against shippers, receivers, and transportation intermediaries.
- The new rule establishes technology specifications detailing performance and design requirements for ELDs so that manufacturers are able to produce compliant devices and systems.
More on the ELD final rule on Fleet Owner.
