Truck drivers have a certain amount of time they are allowed to be behind the wheel. With the ELD mandate in effect the problems with ELDs are their enforcement of Hours of Service laws.
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After years of slow implementation, the Electronic Logging Device (ELD) mandate by the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration (FMCSA) started strict enforcement April 20181.
Dave was recently pulled over by an officer with the Department of Transportation (DOT). After the officer completed his inspection, Dave noticed the data on his inspection report was different than the paper version.
Dave at first thought this was one of the problems with ELDs. What stuck out the most is he saw his Hours of Service were recorded accurately on his ELD, but on the report it says Dave violated his HOS by not taking a 30-minute break... The officer was enforcing a rule that has since been changed.
Thankfully, Dave keeps documentation of everything and can easily refute the violation and submit it supporting data.
John hauls corn and soybeans and can't imagine doing anything else. Although the work is tedious and exhausting, he's motivated to find something for his company that will help streamline some of the work so he and his team can be more productive.
Jim is a fleet owner and has a few trucks. When the electronic logging device (ELD) mandate initially began his drivers had a difficult time with it, and so did he. He constantly got calls at all hours from drivers who couldn't connect to devices, drivers who could not edit incorrect statuses, and not being able to get support from his new provider. All of these inconveniences distracted him from doing his regular tasks and caused an overall bad experience for him and his company.
Carriers have a tough job seeing freight makes it to destination without incident. Getting loaded at the shipper is one stop along the way that should be seamless. So what happens when a driver knows they have been overloaded by the shipper and there's an attempt to get the driver on the road anyway?
The responsibility of safely transporting goods in the United States rests on the shoulders of an estimated 3.5 million truck drivers. All of those drivers are trying to maximize their loads and minimize the amount of time spent running to scales and avoiding weigh stations.
It's one of those situations: you've been driving hundreds of miles, you haven't had a chance to stop to eat, and an officer with the Department of Transportation has just handed you a citation for being overloaded.
Truck maintenance is one of the largest expenses in the trucking industry. The operational costs to owner-operators as well as trucking companies can potentially be lowered when preventative maintenance plan is in place.
The most effective way to optimize the life of vehicles, equipment, and driver retention is through great fleet management.