Technology brings instant visibility to logbook data
A lot of industry speculation ended Jan. 31, 2011, when the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration revised its previous April 2010 rule proposal, section 395.16, to mandate electronic onboard recorders for all carriers. Scheduled to become effective June 2012, the new rule was to be enforced starting in 2015.
For now, the immediate future of 395.16 is uncertain. In August, a federal appeals court vacated the proposed rule, ruling in favor of a lawsuit from the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which contended the regulation did not prevent fleet managers from using EOBRs to harass or micromanage drivers.
The current regulation, 395.15, has been in effect since 1988. It originally defined the technology motor carriers voluntarily could use to record driver logbook data electronically.
With 395.16, FMCSA plans to upgrade technology specifications in a post-1988 world. Satellite tracking, graphical displays, electronic engine data, mobile communications and Web-based software make it possible for officers to conduct log inspections without entering the cab – or eventually without stopping the vehicle in question.
By early indications, 395.16’s setback will be short-lived. Support for EOBRs is widespread within the industry, among the public and in government circles. Many fleet owners, executives and drivers have come to see the technology as essential to maintaining visibility and control in today’s strict regulatory environment.
A ‘de-facto’ mandate
The 395.16 proposal to mandate EOBRs was not surprising considering the events that led to it. On Dec. 24, 2008, FMCSA declared that data from advanced technologies, such as systems that use the Global Positioning System for vehicle location, are supporting documents for verifying paper driver logs. Even before this Christmas Eve announcement, GPS data were not considered off limits by U.S. Department of Transportation auditors.
The granularity of GPS data all but eliminates the inherent advantage of using paper logbooks, namely the flexibility. In June 2010, FMCSA offered carriers an incentive, or perhaps an olive branch, for using GPS data from onboard systems. The agency revamped its supporting documents policy to exclude most other documents, such as fuel, toll, weigh station and delivery receipts.
Using GPS to audit paper logbooks can be time-consuming, however, and does not provide drivers or fleet managers with real-time feedback for hours-of-service compliance.
During a 2004 audit of Keller Logistics, a 105-truck carrier based in Defiance, Ohio, DOT officials obtained the company’s satellite records to uncover HOS violations. The company already had been matching GPS records to paper logs for internal log auditing, but this experience with DOT was eye-opening.
“We didn’t feel like we were being treated unfairly,” says Brian Keller, company president. “It was a blessing in disguise. We realized we had problems that we were forced to fix.”
