OO-Legal Archives

Federal court reinstates Beneficial Ownership Information reporting requirements

Dana Guthrie - December 31, 2024

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) has notified its members and is working to alert others in the trucking industry that Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting requirements have been reinstated by a federal court. “OOIDA has long opposed this requirement and continues to do so,” the group said. On Dec. 26, a federal appeals court reinstated a nationwide injunction halting enforcement of BOI reporting requirements, reversing an order the same court issued earlier that week. The Corporate Transparency Act requires most small businesses with 20 or fewer full-time employees to submit company information to the U.S. Treasury Department. Companies filed since January 1, 2024 generally have 90-days to file, but there are different deadlines depending on when the business started. BOI is imposed by the Act and enforced by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). To file beneficial ownership information, go to fincen.gov/boi. OOIDA members can also call the association for assistance at 800-444-5791.

Owner-ops can have their say in the FMCSA Truck Leasing Task Force

Cliff Abbott - October 16, 2024

One of the easiest highways to truck ownership is to enter a lease-purchase agreement with a carrier. Unfortunately, this can also be a path to failure. Some lease operators have complained of predatory practices by carriers, including overpricing of trucks, unfair maintenance and other fees, and deliberate reduction in available loads to encourage default. A task force to study the “terms, conditions and equitability of common truck leasing arrangements” was mandated by a provision in the $1.2 billion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), signed into law in November 2021 by President Joe Biden. The bill is best known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Members of the task force, which includes motor carriers, unions, consumer protection groups, attorneys, educators and owner-operators, were named on May 1, 2023. The task force is to report its findings to the U.S. Secretaries of Transportation and Labor, including recommendations for best practices for informing drivers before they sign agreements, assisting those who are having issues with current agreements, and helping drivers who are currently in predatory agreements. Additionally, the committee is to recommend changes to current laws. Why even bother with a lease-purchase agreement if it could be predatory? When operated properly, lease purchase agreements at their best provide a benefit for both the carriers and the drivers who participate: Carriers find an outlet for used equipment that is often more profitable than simply trading it in — plus, they have an incentive to retain drivers who might have otherwise gone elsewhere for a chance to own their own trucks. Drivers are often offered easier financial arrangements with a low (if any) down payment and less stringent credit requirements. It’s a rent-to-own arrangement that many drivers have used to start their own independent trucking businesses. There are also third-party companies that work with carriers to provide trucks for lease-purchase agreements. These arrangements allow carriers to provide a greater variety of equipment and help lessen the administrative burden from the carrier, who sometimes agrees to collect lease payments and other fees from drivers on behalf of the leasing company. One key benefit of the lease-purchase arrangement is the relative ease of terminating the agreement if things don’t work out. Carriers may offer a “walk-away” lease, where a driver who determines that truck ownership isn’t for them simply turns the truck in and goes back to work as an employee. The carrier is then free to lease the truck to someone else or to dispose of it in some other manner. So, what’s the catch if I can just walk away? Terminating the lease-purchase agreement isn’t always equitable to both partners. If, for example, the driver leasing the truck hasn’t kept up with regular maintenance or the truck has been damaged in an accident, the carrier could be stuck with repairs the cost of which could exceed the value of the truck. In addition, bills for fuel, towing or fines from citations can sometimes come in long after the truck has been surrendered by the erstwhile driver. The driver, on the other hand, may find themselves obligated to have the truck repaired at carrier locations at an expense set by the carrier, and may even be restricted in choices for insurance coverage, registration and even fueling. Some drivers have complained their carrier knew about likely mechanical issues before leasing the equipment and then required the drivers to foot the bill. Because lease payments and other expenses are typically deducted from the driver’s settlements, the amount the driver actually receives can be less than expected — and this may cause hardship at home. Some drivers make the problem worse by not running enough miles to cover the expenses with enough left over for a paycheck. However, other drivers have claimed that carriers cut their miles in an intentional attempt to get them to fail so the carrier could reclaim the truck and lease it to someone else. While a walk-away lease may appear beneficial to a driver who wants out, equity can be an issue. When the driver buys a truck outright and then has difficulty meeting the payments, he or she still owns any equity that has accumulated. It might be possible to sell the truck, pay off the lending institution and have some cash left over. In a lease-purchase agreement, the truck goes back to the carrier, which owns any residual value. The driver may even still owe for any delinquent lease payments. Because many lease-purchase deals include the expectation that the driver will continue working for the leasing carrier until the truck is paid for, the driver is dependent on the carrier for the income needed to make the lease payments. If the carrier loses customers or sees a decline in the amount of business it handles, the driver’s compensation can decline, too. Accusations are sometimes made that the carrier reduced the driver’s income, but such claims are difficult to prove. You can make your voice heard on Capitol Hill. The Truck Leasing Task Force was created to study the different nuances of lease-purchase agreements. Drivers are invited to participate and to submit comments or other documentation. A meeting held on July 18, 2024, for example, lists letters from both the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) and the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA), as well as comments from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and from a carrier that is 100% owner-operator. Everyone is encouraged to participate in upcoming meetings, which are conducted virtually via ZOOM. However, you must register for the meeting at least a week in advance — and if you want to submit written materials for consideration, you must also do so a week in advance of each meeting. The next meetings will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 30, and Thursday, November 20, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. You must register in advance for the meeting at fmcsa.dot.gov/tltf. A copy of the agenda for each meeting will be available at the same website a week before each meeting. Copies of the meeting minutes are posted on the website after each meeting concludes. A public oral comment period for drivers and lessees of CMVs will be included in each meeting, but due to time constraints, comments will be limited to two minutes. Any written comments, however, will be included in the permanent record. Interested parties can read the announcement of the October and November meetings and register to attend at fmcsa.dot.gov/tltf.

Know what you’re paying for: Predatory towing fees are a growing issue in trucking

Kris Rutherford - May 2, 2024

Predatory towing. It’s a term with which all too many motor carriers and drivers are uncomfortably familiar. It’s possible your company has been a victim of the practice, which goes far beyond fees for towing a disabled vehicle from the side of the road. For example, let’s imagine one of your tractor-trailers is involved in a single-vehicle accident, such as a rollover. Law enforcement at the scene request a tow service, usually selecting the next towing company on a list used to spread the business among competitors. The company dispatches the equipment, spends about an hour and a half cleaning up the scene, and then disappears with both your equipment and cargo. In short order, you receive a bill for towing services that requests payment of tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars for the release of your equipment. Predatory towing is an increasing problem in the trucking industry and has been brought to the attention of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which is studying deceptive business practices nationwide. Already, several state’s legislatures have passed or are considering bills to limit predatory fees. “When a truck driver’s vehicle is towed, they can’t earn a living until they get it back — leaving them vulnerable to predatory junk fees from towing companies,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “We support FTC’s efforts to stand up for truckers by acting to ban junk fees and prevent predatory towing fees that can cause significant financial harm.” The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) expressed sentiments about the issue in a letter to the FTC. “The proposed regulation may significantly benefit FMCSA’s regulated community, specifically as it relates to the predatory towing practices that have a substantial financial impact on CMV owners and operators,” wrote Sue Lawless, the agency’s acting deputy administrator. She went on to highlight the nature of predatory towing fees, the various ways a tow company calculates excessive fees, and the hidden charges many tow companies place on an invoice. In a Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) webinar on the issue, Gene Funk, general counsel for Cowan Systems, a Maryland-based trucking firm, said, “The towing companies send out these bills just hoping someone is not looking at them.” Funk, along with Renee Bowen, an attorney with the firm Franklin and Prokopik, provided several examples of invoices with excessive charges, one in which the towing company sought $202,000. “They’re a creative bunch,” Bowen said, referring to predatory towing companies. “(These fees are) made up. They’re fictitious. You have to challenge these charges,” said Funk in reference to some of the charges that show up on towing invoices. As an example, Funk pointed to a certain fuel surcharge. The line item had no relationship to the amount of fuel the tow company used in performing the work; instead, it was charged as a percentage of the total tow bill. In essence, a $100,000 invoice could have a $6,000 surcharge for fuel attached. Another major issue with predatory towing is “per-pound” billing. In this case, a tow company sets its fee based on the total weight of the vehicle, trailer, and cargo being hauled. Often, Funk said, companies will charge a minimum fee based on an 80,000-pound tractor-trailer — even when the vehicle involved only weighs 20,000 pounds. One example compared a per-pound billing invoice to an invoice for the same service charged at nonpredatory rates. When recalculated, the predatory $140,000 per-pound invoice dropped to $24,000. There are several problems with existing towing fee regulations, which vary from state to state. First, the tow companies hold all the power. They capitalize on a motor carrier’s need to retrieve its equipment and cargo. Despite statutes in place that require tow companies to release cargo, Funk and Bowen cited instances in which tow company managers simply ignored the requirement and essentially held equipment and cargo hostage. There is also a lack of enforcement of existing regulations. Often, law enforcement agencies are the ones who call a tow company — but they are unwilling to get involved in cases of excessive charges. In addition, there are cases in which a tow company sends the same invoice to various stakeholders (carriers, insurance companies, drivers, brokers, etc.). On occasion, multiple parties pay the same bill — and the towing companies simply reap the profits. To help trucking companies guard against predatory billing, Funk and Bowen offered some warning signs to look for before writing a check. One red flag is per-pound billing, a practice that is actually outlawed in some states. Excessive hourly rates and the number of hours personnel and equipment are on site should also be inspected. For example, a tow company may charge an hourly rate but have a minimum charge policy of four hours, even if less time is spent at the site. Some tow companies charge additional fees for equipment sent to the site, even if that equipment was neither requested nor necessary for the towing job. Finally, hidden surcharges are common tactics of predatory tow companies. Charges for weather conditions (temperatures over 80 degrees, for example), photos, and follow-up communications are common. One example of an invoice presented by Funk and Bowen even charged for “snacks.” And the snacks were charged at 2% of the total bill, resulting in a cost of $200 per employee. As far as solutions to the problem of predatory towing are concerned, Funk is not optimistic: “There are no good answers to solve the problem,” he said. However, Bowen did offer a few suggestions for truckers and carriers to follow when involved in a towing situation. First, no driver should sign any document presented by a towing company on site. Many times, the driver could be signing away rates and waivers. Drivers should take lots of photos of the site, towing operation, equipment, and personnel. “Photographs are incredibly important,” Bowen said. It is also recommended that carriers form relationships with towing companies in the areas in which they operate, have legal counsel available, and train staff in what to do in the case of a towing situation. Finally, Bowen says, carriers should join and support state trucking associations. These groups can be excellent resources when it comes to getting references for reputable towing companies nationwide. Ultimately, carriers must be aware that their drivers operate in different states — and there is no consistency in the regulations states place on the two companies in relation to towing fees. The FMCSA suggests the FTC provide guidance on how deceptive business practices related to towing would impact state and local laws that govern towing practices. Perhaps when federal guidance is available, tow companies will be willing to come to the bargaining table to establish fair and consistent rates. “The industry wants fair service for a fair price,” Funk concluded. This article originally appeared in the May/June 2024 edition of Truckload Authority, the official publication of the Truckload Carriers Association.

Your state needs current medical cert; why?

Cliff Abbott - September 22, 2023

In the old days, many facets of trucking were more difficult than they are today. One thing to which this maxim does not apply is DOT (Department of Transportation) medical certificates. In those fabled “good old days,” drivers were required to carry DOT medical cards and carriers were required to verify that drivers had them. Back then, obtaining a medical certification was fairly easy. If a driver failed a DOT physical, he or she could simply go down the street to the next clinic and try again. If the DOT physical couldn’t be passed anywhere, certificates could easily be altered by using a bottle of White-Out to change the expiration date on the old one and then making a photocopy to hide the evidence. If that failed, outright forgeries could be made by anyone who could obtain a blank form. Roadside inspectors had limited resources to check the authenticity of a medical card and were often satisfied if the driver had one at all. All of that changed in 2012 when the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) began requiring each state’s driver’s licensing agency to keep copies of medical certification cards — and to use the information to suspend the CDLs of drivers who didn’t have a current one. The status of the driver’s medical certification became a part of the state’s Motor Vehicle Report. In some states, a comment is entered that a valid certification is on file, along with the expiration date. In others, the complete medical exam is provided. Each state enters the driver’s medical status into the CDL License Information System Motor Vehicle Record (CDLIS MVR) that both carriers and law enforcement personnel can access. The lesson for every CDL holder is that your license will be suspended if your state doesn’t have a current medical card on file — and it’s your responsibility to see that they do. If you fail to do so, your CDL could be suspended or downgraded to a non-CDL operator’s license. Too often, drivers aren’t aware that their medical certification is expiring until it’s too late. In other cases, the driver might be out of trucking but holding on to a CDL to keep open the option of returning to driving. That’s what happened to Nathan Riley of Texas. “My CDL was downgraded over a year ago to a class C license, and I had no idea until recently when I went to renew it,” he told The Trucker. “Apparently, once a DOT medical card expires, CDL holders have a 60-day window to renew the DOT card or change the status of their license to ‘maintaining.’” In Riley’s case, he had moved to a new address and never received the notice sent by the Texas Department of Public Safety, the licensing agency for the state. When he went to renew his CDL, he was informed that he was no longer a CDL holder. It’s unclear whether Riley can have his CDL reinstated with a current medical certification or if he will need to retest to get his CDL back. Unfortunately, many drivers on the road only receive mail sporadically, if at all. Drivers who fully complied with DOT exam requirements, passed their physicals and obtained a new medical certification can still have their CDL suspended if they don’t ensure their home state receives a copy. In some states, the medical facility where the physical exam took place may forward a copy to the state licensing agency. Some carriers also submit copies in an attempt to help their drivers stay current. The regulations, however, clearly state that it’s the driver’s responsibility to make sure it happens. The process for submitting medical certifications to the state agencies varies by state. The FMCSA publishes a list that provides the process for each state, including whether they will accept copies that are faxed or emailed and what file types they will accept. It can be found here. Further, the regulations require the driver to self-certify in one of four “operation categories.” This is also done through your state’s licensing agency. The four categories are interstate non-excepted, interstate excepted, intrastate non-excepted and intrastate excepted. Most over-the-road drivers will certify in the “interstate non-excepted” category, meaning you drive in multiple states and must follow the DOT medical card requirements. If all your miles are within the borders of one state, “intrastate non-excepted” means you are required to follow the medical requirements of your state, which may be different than federal requirements. The “excepted” categories can vary by state and generally mean you are not required to provide copies of your medical card. Some states allow you to specify a “maintenance” category that lets you keep your CDL without medical certification, but only if you aren’t using the license to drive commercially. Some states allow limited use of your CDL without a physical exam for tasks such as operation of a church bus or a truck used for agricultural purposes. It’s important that every driver understands the requirements of the state that issued the CDL. Federal regulations require that each driver submit a new medical certification to the licensing agency before the old one expires. When it comes to medical certification, it’s much better to be proactive, even if it means duplication of efforts. It can’t hurt if you and your doctor’s office both submit a medical certification to your state, or even if your carrier sends one, too. When nobody sends one, you are in danger of losing your CDL, either temporarily or permanently. Current rules at the FMCSA make medical certification a requirement of holding a CDL. If you are pulled over and your CDL isn’t valid, you may not be able to fix the problem in time to continue with that load. Make sure you know your state’s procedure and that your most current medical certification is on file.

Tip-top equipment = key to DOT inspection

Cliff Abbott - September 21, 2023

Getting selected for a DOT (Department of Transportation) inspection is a lot like going to the dentist. Nobody looks forward to the occurrence. The best you can hope for is that nothing bad (or expensive) is discovered. There’s another similarity to that dentist visit, too. All too often, the painful results could have been prevented by the owner, if sensible precautions had been taken. The reality of a DOT inspection is that nothing is inspected that shouldn’t be regularly inspected by the driver. All too often, however, drivers receive citations for simple violations like air leaks, chafed hoses or inadequate tire tread. These items are easy to find and fix but often go unnoticed until pointed out by an inspector. Thanks to the PSP (Pre-Employment Screening Program) administered by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), violations noted during an inspection can be recorded on the driver’s PSP report. This report is ordered by prospective employers when considering a driver’s application. Each carrier uses the data in different ways, but if there’s a pattern that shows the driver doesn’t routinely inspect equipment, it could impact the company’s decision to hire the driver. Then, there’s the CSA (Compliance, Safety, Accountability) program. If you own your own trucking business, your CSA score can impact your ability to lease with other carriers or do business with customers or brokers. Still, the biggest impact of a DOT inspection may be the time lost to the inspection itself and making repairs, especially if those repairs are to correct an out-of-service (OOS) violation. Waiting for a service truck to arrive and replace a tire, for example, means absorbing the cost of the service call AND the potential revenue lost if your load can’t be delivered on time. Losing a day to wait for another appointment can cost more than the service call. The DOT lists eight levels of inspection, but most drivers need only be concerned with the first three. A Level III inspection, the most common type, examines a driver’s credentials. It seems obvious that a driver should have a valid CDL for the vehicle driven, along with medical certification card when required, but drivers are often cited for missing these. Level III inspections usually include a review of the record of duty status and verify that the carrier is properly identified. Inspectors often observe seatbelt use as well. A Level II inspection includes those items in Level III plus a walk-around check of the equipment for obvious violations. Inspectors may look at lights, listen for air leaks and check for poor cargo securement, missing lug nuts and other items that are easy to identify. Level I is a full-blown inspection, where brakes, steering and other components are checked for wear and damage — along with everything included in Levels II and III. The first step in passing a DOT inspection is to not get inspected. While inspectors sometimes choose trucks to inspect at random, they often choose based on their observation of trucks in the area. Trucks with obvious issues, such as a burned-out headlight, are prime targets. Trucks that have papers and trash all over the dash and visible through the windshield are practically volunteering for inspection. Sometimes, inspections are the aftermath of a traffic violation for which the driver may or may not receive a citation. The best defense against a bad DOT inspection, however, is to regularly inspect both tractor and trailer and make repairs as necessary. Much of this can be accomplished during a daily pre-trip inspection. Tire tread wear doesn’t happen overnight, but tread or sidewall damage could easily have occurred since the last inspection. Lights go out, wire connections corrode, air line connections weather and leak, hose retainers slip or break — any number of items can change between inspections. Air leaks can be especially troublesome and difficult to catch if they aren’t loud enough to hear. Service line leaks at the rear of the trailer, for example, won’t show up during a walk-around inspection, because the service brakes aren’t being used. Unless the leak is loud enough to hear from the cab, it can remain undetected. However, in cab brake-checks can help you detect a problem. Holding down the brake pedal while watching the gauge for any pressure loss can tell you if the system is leaking. It’s one of the checks a DOT inspector will perform, so you’ll come out ahead if you do it first. Another in-cab air check involves pumping the brakes to release air pressure and then watching to see when the warning light/buzzer activates and at what pressure the tractor protection valve engages (pops out). If those things aren’t happening, there’s an issue that should be fixed as soon as possible. It’s not uncommon for brake violations to be discovered during a DOT inspection. Pushrod travel is measured, and if two or more are found to be out of adjustment, the vehicle is placed OOS. Brake drums and rotors are inspected for damage, and pads and shoes checked for wear, damage or contamination. For drivers who never get under the truck, these checks can be a problem. Most modern commercial vehicles are equipped with automatic slack adjusters, but these can still get out of adjustment. When they do, manufacturers recommend they be replaced rather than manually adjusted. The important thing is to have them inspected regularly so problems can be identified before a violation is discovered in a DOT inspection. Any machinery that undergoes the stressful conditions faced by commercial motor vehicles should be expected to require periodic maintenance. Today’s trucks are built to run for many thousands of miles before parts wear out and need replacement, but things can and do go wrong. Regularly inspecting your vehicle and repairing or replacing problem parts is the best way to minimize the likelihood of getting shut down during a DOT inspection.

HOS rules/logging devices knowledge is vital

Cliff Abbott - July 29, 2022

Love ’em or hate ’em, electronic logging devices (ELDs) are here to stay for the majority of drivers of commercial vehicles. Once ELDs became mandatory (for most drivers) in December 2017, tracking and reporting of drivers’ hours of service (HOS) was changed forever. Those changes began in the U.S. Legislature with the passage of a 2012 transportation funding bill known as Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, or MAP-21. A portion of that bill was the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Enhancement Act, which mandated the ELD rule. As directed, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued the final rule in December 2015, and the rule was fully enacted four years later. Drivers are still required to fill out paper logs if their ELD system isn’t working or when driving vehicles that aren’t ELD equipped, or if they have ELD systems that can’t accept data from the system in a previously driven truck. There is a limit of eight days of operation unless the truck or the work is exempted. Another issue is that drivers can come to depend on warnings and alerts from the ELD rather than mentally tracking their hours. Those drivers may need a refresher on the hours-of-service rules when paper logs are used. The basics haven’t changed much in a decade or more. Drivers of property-carrying vehicles can’t drive after 11 hours of driving or after 14 hours of combined driving and working (on-duty, not driving). There are exceptions to both rules, such as additional time allowed if the driver encounters adverse driving conditions that could not have been reasonably known at the beginning of the shift or trip. The driver must take a 30-minute break before or at the eight-hour driving mark. Thanks to a September 2020 change to the rule, the break can be used for non-driving activities such as fueling or inspections, as long as no driving is done. Before this change, the driver had to log off-duty, sleeper berth or a combination of the two for the break. Drivers can’t drive after 60 hours of driving or working in a seven-day period, or after 70-hours in an eight-day period. The 70-hour rule is typically used for trucking operations that run seven days a week, while the 60-hour rule is used by operations that regularly shut down on specific days each week, such as weekends. When the limits are reached, drivers must wait until the hours fall under the limit or take a 34-hour restart to reset those hours at zero before driving again. It’s important to note that the 14-hour rule and the 60 in seven and 70 in eight rules do not prohibit working beyond the set limits. The rules prohibit driving until the requirements are met, but non-driving work such as loading or unloading aren’t restricted. Drivers can work as many hours as they like, as long as no driving is done until the driver has had 10 hours off-duty or in the sleeper berth or the total hours fall below 60 or 70, depending on the rule used. The adverse weather provision is often misunderstood and misused. In order for a driver to drive extra hours under the rule, the circumstances causing the adverse conditions cannot have been reasonably known before the driving period began. For example, predicted rain can result in flooding over the roadway, or in certain conditions can quickly turn to snow and ice. An argument that those conditions could not have been reasonably known might be a solid one. However, if weather reports predicted freezing precipitation for several days, it becomes harder to argue that the driver couldn’t have known the roads would be bad. In another example, a traffic jam caused by an accident can’t be known beforehand — but claiming adverse driving conditions because of rush hour in a large city might not work as well. There are also specific regulations that govern ELDs. The first is that the device used must be registered with the FMCSA. That’s a process that begins with the manufacturer following the necessary registration steps, including a “self-certification” that the ELD meets all the requirements. The carrier must verify that the device is registered; if the carrier is a one-truck owner-operator business, the owner/driver has the responsibility. Registration can be done online at eld.fmcsa.dot.gov/list. The page includes a list of more than 800 registered devices and also includes a link to a list of devices for which the registration has been revoked. Also, it’s helpful to make sure the most current version of the ELD software is being used. Check with the manufacturer for updates. There may be a current problem with ELDs that depend on cellular networks to transmit data. The 3G network has been retired by every major carrier except Verizon, and even that one will be retired in December. Owners of ELDs that depend on the Verizon network should make sure their devices will operate on 4G or 5G networks. Smaller cellphone carriers such as Cricket, Pure Talk or Consumer Cellular contract to use the networks of larger carriers, so a phone-based ELD that works through another carrier could still use the Verizon network. There are rules that govern ELD capabilities, too. The device must be able to transfer the driver’s record-of-duty status (RODS) electronically to an inspector during a stop, confirm successful transmission and allow the safety official to enter a comment. During an inspection, some officials will be satisfied with looking at the driver’s record on the screen of the ELD, but many will want either a printout or a copy of the record. This can be accomplished in several ways. The safety official can connect via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, or the ELD system can transmit via fax or email. Another option is to record the data on a thumb drive that the official inserts into his or her own device. Instructions for operating the ELD, and for transmitting data must be carried by the driver and provided to the safety officer on demand. Often, written instructions are included in the ELD program so that it isn’t necessary to carry printed materials. Knowing the provisions of the HOS rules and the workings of the ELD that records them is a vital part of any driver’s job.