FMCSA: Hours violations have ‘dropped significantly’ under ELD mandate

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Updated Jun 26, 2018
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Despite OOIDA’s claims, states say they are within their legal boundaries to enforce the federal government’s ELD mandate and other federal regulations.
(Graphic from FMCSA)(Graphic from FMCSA)

Hours of service violations, as a percentage of total inspections, have been cut by about half since the electronic logging device mandate took effect in December, according to data released Friday by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

In the most recent two full months, since so-called hard enforcement of the ELD mandate began April 1, that percentage has dropped to 0.64 percent, according to FMCSA’s figures.

From May through August of last year, the number of inspections that yielded hours of service violations trended at consistent 1.3 percent. In the months leading up to the December 18, 2017, deadline for adoption, that percentage fell slightly to 1.2 percent.

The agency posted a graphic on its website last week with the percentages. FMCSA says it intends to update the graphic monthly to report the latest hours of service violation percentage.

The agency’s first graphic, released Friday, shows that hours of service citations as a percentage of inspections fell to 0.83 percent in January, the first full month the ELD mandate was in effect. The number trended in the 0.8 percent range until April, when inspections resulting in an hours citation fell to 0.69 percent. The number declined again slightly in May to 0.64 percent.

Since April 1, the inspectors have conducted 559,940 inspections, says FMCSA, with just 4,720 of those resulting in hours of service violations.