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By CCJ Staff

Published July 1, 2012

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“Video urges Congress to support EOBRs”

Last month, the American Trucking Associations, along with the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance and AAA, released a video urging members of Congress to support an electronic onboard recorder mandate for large trucks to improve driver and carrier compliance with hours-of-service rules. The video features Steve Rush, founder and president of Carbon Express Inc. and a former owner-operator with experience with the weakness of paper logs. “I’m a reformed cheater … I made money doing that,” Rush says. “We need these electronic logs for sure.” Here are several reader comments to that article …

EOBRs too expensive

“As an independent owner-operator and not a fleet or conglomerate that can negotiate costs, the cost of two tires is not realistic. After the purchase cost and installation [of an EOBR], then monitoring fees, it’s more like the cost of a transmission. ATA may want this mandate, but independents don’t, and as far as the reformed cheater, I’m sorry he felt he had to cheat to make money. As for myself, I’ve always gotten great freight rates and never hauled cheap freight, so I don’t need to cheat to make up the difference.” -peaveypro

Let’s stick with paper

“Paper logs … about $1.50 x 12 = $18. Don’t lump the law-abiding folks who have always complied with the hours of service with those that don’t and now claim to be reformed just to sell us expensive equipment that does the same job as a $1.50 paper log.” -Latigo

Over the line

“Bill Graves doesn’t know what privacy laws are about – he believes drivers are robots and that we should mechanically operate trucks at the push of a button, but that’s not how it’s done on the real highway. We are people – we need to eat, take bathroom breaks, rest and stop. But if EOBRs are placed into every truck, the dispatcher pushes the ‘shock the monkey’ button to force the truck to move even more. EOBRs are dangers to the driving public. When a driver is tired, he needs to rest, but with an EOBR, that’s impossible, as you’ll be forced to move and move and move.”

-CCJ online reader

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