Senators introduce bill to require EOBRs, electronic logs
The Commercial Driver Compliance Improvement Act requires universal installation of electronic on-board recording devices for commercial motor vehicles. It tasks the Department of Transportation with issuing regulations within 18 months of the bill’s enactment. (The Trucker: Barb Kampbell)
The Trucker Staff
9/29/2010
WASHINGTON — Congress is stepping in to beef up and move along a federal requirement for electronic on-board recorders that has become bogged down in bureaucracy.
U.S. Senators Mark Pryor, D.-Ark., and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., on Wednesday introduced bipartisan legislation designed to improve the safety of highways by requiring truckers to use technology that tracks their hours on-the-job.
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According to the senators, federal regulations were first established in the 1930s to prevent overworked, sleep-deprived truck drivers from causing accidents, but they have been difficult to enforce.
While some trucking companies already use electronic logs to ensure their truckers comply with the hours-of-service regulations, this legislation would create a consistent standard to help all companies and drivers manage the risks and costs associated with trucking, the sponsors said.
“No one wants to share the road with tired truckers, but we all expect our stores to be full of merchandise. Meeting these expectations is a constant balancing act for the trucking industry,” Pryor said. “After several meetings with industry and Senate hearings on highway safety, I believe the most sensible and effective solution is to require the use of electronic on-board recorders. This measure will ensure the entire industry is putting safety and driver quality of life before profit.”
The Commercial Driver Compliance Improvement Act (S. 3884) requires universal installation of electronic on-board recording devices for commercial motor vehicles. It tasks the Department of Transportation with issuing regulations within 18 months of the bill’s enactment, as well as setting design and performance standards for the devices. The regulations would take effect three years after the bill becomes law.
“This bill will save truckers time, paper, and money, and it will make government leaner,” said Alexander. “The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration estimates that in paperwork savings alone, converting to electronic on-board records would save $60 million a year.”
Tamper-resistant EOBRs are capable of communicating with the engine’s control module, identifying the individual operating the vehicle, recording driving time, providing real-time tracking of a vehicle’s location and enabling law enforcement to access the information contained in the device during roadside inspections.
A recommendation that all trucks have EOBRs is a longstanding item on the National Transportation Safety Board’s “Most Wanted List” of safety improvements. The panel has criticized the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for offering a regulation that limits the requirement to those carriers with a history of unsafe operations.
An FMCSA spokesman said the agency had no comment at this time.
Under the FMCSA rule issued April 2, carriers found with 10 percent or more Hours of Service violations during a compliance review will be required to install EOBRs in all their vehicles for a minimum of two years.
Additionally, carriers that voluntarily adopt EOBRs will receive relief from some of FMCSA’s requirements to retain HOS supporting documents, such as toll receipts used to check the accuracy of driver logbooks, under that rule.
That FMCSA rule will go into effect June 1, 2012, to ensure EOBR manufacturers have sufficient time to meet the rule’s performance standards and to manufacture products to meet industry demand.
Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety applauded the new legislation, calling it “crucial to stopping the epidemic of hours of service violations that produce fatigued, sleep-deprived commercial drivers.”
Trucking industry executives likewise have expressed support for the mandate.
“In this nation, there are large and small corporations that have built their manufacturing and supply chains on the backs of motor carriers and truck drivers who were determined to satisfy these shippers’ demands. Large and small motor carriers are at the mercy of the marketplace defined by the lowest common denominator,” said Maverick USA Chairman and CEO Steve Williams. “The mandatory use of EOBRs is the only salvation for the motor carrier community to collectively resist the power of the purse.”
Added Don Osterberg, senior vice president for safety at Schneider National, “The current hours of service rules are science-based, reasonable, and effective. The problem isn’t with the HOS rules, but a lack of compliance with the rules. Electronic logs take the non-compliance issues off the table.”
Some truckers question the requirement, however.
“EOBRs are no more reliable than paper logbooks and there is no data to show any correlation to improving highway safety,” said Norita Taylor, spokesman for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association. “The safest thing to put in a truck is a well-trained driver, not more technology.”
Kevin Jones of The Trucker staff can be reached for comment at kevinj@thetrucker.com.
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