Preparing for the FMCSA’s Electronic Logging Device (ELD ...The design of the ELD allows only limited edits of an ELD record by both the driver and motor carrier’s agents and in

Preparing for the FMCSA’s Electronic Logging Device (ELD) MandateOn December 11, 2015, the FMCSA officially published the Electronic Logging Device (ELD) Mandate.

Specifically, drivers who previously used paper log books to manage their driving hours must transition to ELDs to ensure Hours of Service (HOS) compliance as well as make the best use of ELDs and related support systems as their primary means of recording HOS information. These provisions are intended to help reduce crashes, injuries and fatalities involving large trucks and buses by holding motor carriers and drivers to the highest safety standards while removing the highest risk drivers, vehicles and carriers from the roads.

The mandate requires fleets to adopt and use compliant devices within two years of the final ruling, a deadline of December 2017. Motor Carriers who are currently using Automatic On-Board Recording Devices (AOBRDs) have an additional two years to begin using electronic logging devices, a deadline of December 2019.

Scope of Drivers Affected

The mandate applies to all drivers who are currently required to keep paper Records of Duty Status (RODS), including those who keep RODS in eight or more days out of every 30 days. Drivers falling under the HOS exemption (ie. Short haul drivers operating within a 100-mile radius or non-CDL drivers operating within a 150-mile radius) are not required to have an ELD.

The FMCSA estimates this proposal applies to 2.84 million truck drivers, including the 140,000 or so Canadian Truck Drivers that are estimated to operate in the United States.

What is an ELD

An ELD is a recording-only technology, used to track the time a Vehicle is operating. An ELD is integrally connected to the vehicle’s engine, uses location information and is tamper-resistant. An ELD automatically tracks vehicle movement, but allows for annotations by both the driver and the motor carrier’s agent to explain or correct records. An ELD is not necessarily a physical device; it is a technology platform and may be portable or implemented within a device not permanently installed on a vehicle.

The Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (SNPRM) and the Final Ruling

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration previously initiated an SNPRM on the use of mandatory ELDs for drivers who were required to prepare hours-of-service records of duty status. Through ongoing reviews of the proposal a final ruling has been announced. The final ruling differs from the most recent SNPRM. The changes are:

1. Documents Required - the maximum number of sup-porting documents that must be retained has been low-ered from 10 to 8. The in which a driver must submit RODS and supporting documents to a motor carrier has been extended from 8 to 13 days.

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Preparing for the FMCSA’s Electronic Logging Device (ELD) Mandate

BSM Technologies December 2015

2. Technical Specifications - Two of the options for the required electronic data transfer included in the SNPRM (QR codes and TransferJet) have been removed. Electronic data transfer must be made by either:

• Wireless Web services and email or;

• Bluetooth® and USB 2.0

In cases of limited connectivity, the ELD must provide either a display or printout.

3. Exemptions

• Driveaway - towaway operators are not required to use an ELD, provided the vehicle driven is part of the shipment.

• ELDs are not required on CMVs older than model year 2000.

4. ELD Certification - In the event of compliance issues with an ELD product, the FMCSA must follow procedures, allowing the ELD provider due process to address issues before the product is removed form the agency’s list of certified products.

5. Harassment - today’s ruling also contains provisions to prevent the use of ELDs to harass drivers. Provisions include:

• Mute function to ensure driver is not interrupted in the sleeper berth

• Limit ELD record edits by both the driver and carrier

Today’s Ruling

Today’s final ruling applies to most carriers and drivers who are currently required to prepare and retain paper RODS to comply with HOS regulations. Drivers who operate using the timecard exception are not required to keep RODS and not required to use ELDs. The following drivers are also not required to use ELDs, however, they must continue to use paper logs as required.

• Drivers who use paper RODS for not more than 8 days during any 30 day period

• Drivers who conduct driveaway - towaway operations where the vehicle being driven is the commodity being delivered

• Drivers of vehicles manufactured before model year 2000

Supporting Documents:

Motor carriers must retain up to 8 supporting documents for every 24 hour period a driver who uses ELDs is on duty. Motor Carriers must retain RODS and supporting documents for six months. Drivers must submit supporting documents to the motor carrier no later than 13 days after receiving them.

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Harassment:

Today’s rule protects drivers from “harassment” - instances in which a motor carrier’s action toward one of its drivers results in a violation of regulations, and the carrier knew or should have known the action would result in a violation. Harassment must involve information available to the motor carrier through an ELD or other technology used in combination with and not separable from an ELD. The ruling also requires the ELD to offer a mute function to ensure harassment in the form of interrupting a driver while in a sleeper berth does not occur.

The design of the ELD allows only limited edits of an ELD record by both the driver and motor carrier’s agents and in either case the original record generated by the device cannot be changed. Anyone making edits to an ELD record have a unique login ID. Drivers must have access to their own records without having to request access through their motor carriers. This ensures that drivers can review the ELD record and determine whether unauthorized edits/annotations have been entered.

The FMCSA requires all ELDs to record location in a way that provides an accuracy of approximately a 1-mile radius during on-duty driving periods. When a CMV is operated for authorized personal use, the position reporting accuracy is reduced to a 10-mile radius.

Technical Specifications:

All ELDs must meet standard requirements which include recording certain information related a driver’s HOS status, but they are not required to track a CMV or driver in real-time. ELDs are not required to communicate between the driver and the motor carrier. All ELDs must capture and transfer identical data regarding a driver’s HOS status to authorized safety officials.

A list of all provider-certified ELDs will be available on the FMCSA website. Interstate motor carriers must use only those ELDs that appear on the list of registered ELDs on the FMCSA website.

An ELD must support one of two options for different types of electronic data transfer. At a minimum it must electronically transfer data to an authorized safety official on demand via wireless Web services and email or via USB 2.0 and Bluetooth. ELDs must be capable of displaying a standardized ELD data set in a specified format. A driver must also be able to provide either a display or print out when an authorized safety official requests a physical display of the information.

Enforcement:

A driver must submit supporting documents to the driver’s employer within 13 days.

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The table below shows a comparison of FMCSA requirements from 1988 to present:

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Next Steps

The sooner you plan, the less your business will be disrupted – whether it’s deciding which solution to employ, timing of implementation, or driver and personnel training.

Many large fleets have been using electronic onboard recording technology for years, regarding it as an essential part of their fleet management systems and overall operations. And, as with most technology, the longer it’s around, the more manufacturers enter the market and the more effective and affordable the technology becomes. Solutions now range from onboard computer systems to mobile platforms that utilize a driver’s tablet.

Choosing an ELD supplier

How will you ensure the vendor you choose will stand the test of time and truly become your strategic business partner versus just a technology provider? The considerations go far beyond just features and functions.

A number of factors can determine a vendor’s success or failure. These include client satisfaction, functional and technological strength, financial stability and management, and long-term vision. While these are certainly important, other variables influence whether a company achieves staying power and industry respect. These include:

Product Strategy:

Market trends, customer challenges/opportunities, regulatory developments, consolidations, competitive intelligence, and market stability are but a few non-function-and-feature

drivers that should influence product strategy. Are your potential vendors gathering this information? Do they serve on industry boards? Work with industry consultants? Conduct focus groups? Are they active contributors to trade associations? Do they feed this type of input into a rolling, multi-year product roadmap? Do they issue improvements or new features several times a year? Do they host user groups or conferences where customers share best practices? Regardless of whether your organization needs deep, functional depth, your organization does need a solution and vendor partner who stays ahead of the market.

Product Features/Functions:

Are the potential solutions web-based? What are the solution uptime statistics? Does the vendor have a disaster recovery plan? Does the solution offer a real-time dashboard that provides a visual snapshot of drivers’ Hours of Service? Is the solution accessible to mobile users? Are there several mobile options to accommodate several use-cases? Is the solution easy-to-learn, easy to deploy? Does the solution platform have the ability to evolve/grow? Does it work with other third party applications?

Presence:

By selecting a vendor with little or no market presence, you run the risk of the vendor becoming insular and getting feedback only from the few clients they currently serve. Consider vendors that have a proven track record of providing solutions to organizations with similar needs to yours, and alignment with other solution partners

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in the industry…navigation, fuel tax reporting, dispatch integration… The best way to get meaningful presence is through independent analyst reviews, industry councils, articles in peer-reviewed journals and client references (ask for examples, testimonials and case studies).

New clients:

Does your vendor’s client base exhibit a sales trend? Do they have a good range of clients - a balance of long-term and newly acquired clients? A vendor may have a large established client base, but if there are very few new client contracts in the past few years, it could indi-cate a problem with the vendor keeping pace in the mar-ket. It could also mean your organization and a few other dependent customers fund that vendor’s future.

Strong leadership:

Is the vendor’s leadership team truly focused on long-term success – theirs and yours? How do they envision their company evolving in the future? Are there strong leaders at multiple levels within the organization? Could you see yourself serving on an industry task force with the vendor’s leaders to solve an industry problem? A “no” to any of these questions might be a red flag.

Client focus:

A vendor’s relationship with their clients reveals a great deal about the vendor. Do clients see the vendor as an industry leader? How has the vendor worked with their clients to solve challenging business problems or capital-ize on opportunities? Has the vendor brought industry insight into their client organizations, or are the clients

always leading the vendor?

When you choose a vendor, you might think of it as hiring a key employee or entering into a business partnership. It is a dynamic and mutually beneficial relationship that should go far beyond “system functionality.”

Value for money:

The lowest price is not always the best value for money. If you want reliability and quality from your vendors, you’ll have to decide how much you’re willing to pay and the balance you want to strike between cost, reliability, quality and service. Consider the total cost of ownership –owning, operating, and maintaining your solution. Also, poll other users for their return on investment.

Strong service and clear communication:

You need your vendors to deliver on time, or to be honest and give you plenty of warning if they can’t. The best suppliers will want to talk with you regularly to find out what needs you have now and how they can serve you better in the future. Depending on the size and capabilities of your team, you may also want good local support or guaranteed, responsive remote support. Poll other customers to determine their satisfaction levels.

Financial Security:

It’s always worth making sure your vendor has a sufficiently strong cash flow to deliver what you want, when you need it. A credit check will help reassure you the vendor won’t go out of business when you need them most.

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Stability:

Look for your vendor to have years of business experience behind them, a strong customer list, a good number of employees, healthy annual revenue and longevity in the leadership team.

Looking for more information

We are more than happy to help. With more than 155,000 subscribers – and tens of millions of records processed daily – BSM Wireless’ innovative solutions are relied upon every day by some of the world’s largest and most sophisticated fleet operators.

We deliver fleet intelligence solutions and location-based services (LBS) to commercial and government fleets across North America and around the world. Our proven solutions continue to evolve and are based on industry-leading best practices offering unparalleled breadth of functionality to support the needs of fleet and vehicle management.

Contact BSM Wireless for a business/process review and to learn more about how your company can become compliant, improve safety and reduce operating expenses…..

BSM Technologies bsmtechnologies.com

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