March/April 2009

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ITA Discusses EOBRs and Hours of Service

Curmudgeon’s Comments:
Avoid Paralysis by Analysis

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Illinois Legislative News from the MTA

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ATA Unveils New Image Trailer

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Featured Speaker Discusses How EOBRs Can Lessen Hours of Service Violations

A capacity crowd listens to Dave Kraft of Qualcomm speak at the ITA Safety and Maintenance Council meeting.

With technology decreasing the need for paperwork, some motor carriers have decided to use Electronic On-Board Recorders (EOBR) to create driver logs and regulate hours of service. The Illinois Trucking Association addressed this technology with help from Dave Kraft and Randy Calanca of Qualcomm at its February Safety and Maintenance Council meeting. Avalon Risk Management of Elk Grove Village, Ill. sponsored the meeting on Feb. 17, 2009.

According to Kraft, Senior Manager for Business Development at Qualcomm, EOBRs provide a way to create driver logs automatically that are compliant with the current Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) rules. These devices provide real-time notification to drivers about the hours of service available to them. The current rule allows drivers to drive for 11 hours within a 14 hour on duty window.
(L-R) Randy Calanca (Midwest District Manager, Qualcomm Enterprise Services) and Dave Kraft (Senior Manager of Business Deveopment for Qualcomm).
In addition to eliminating paper logs, using an EOBR, Kraft added, can reduce fines and expenses by reducing hours of service violations. The devices can also improve efficiency by maximizing miles per truck per day. Carriers can know how many hours of service are available, which makes for more efficient load planning. Using electronic logs can reduce the risk of tampering or loss of records, Kraft said.

Qualcomm’s EOBR, through the OmniVision brand name, features the ability for drivers and co-drivers to be logged in at the same time. Also, they can use the device to clock in and log time when they are working but not driving. The status on the screen changes automatically when the truck begins moving to the available hours of service, Kraft added. Included with the device is a major feature to prevent hours of service violations - vocal notification of an approach to violation. The device also alerts the driver if they are trying to restart too early, he said.

“Once drivers start doing this, they don��t want to go back to paper,” Kraft said. EOBRs are accurate and easy to use, he added.

The device can fax duty status to any fax number and can also create reports for hours of service audits. A web interface is also available to track drivers’ time on duty.

Kraft also discussed what effect government regulations might have on the future use of EOBRs. The current rule for Automatic On-Board Recording Devices was implemented in 1988, and has only had two revisions since. The FMCSA began developing a new rule in April 2007, but the rule was withdrawn when it was not passed before the Obama administration began.
An example of Qualcomm’s Electronic On-Board Recorder, which electronically and automatically creates driver logs compliant with FMSCA rules.
The proposed rule, which could be passed within six to eight months, included a remedial directive for carriers with chronic hours of service violations. These carriers would be required to use an EOBR to record driver logs.

“This remedial directive will be a tool the FMCSA will use to implement EOBR use,” Kraft said.

Other suggestions in the withdrawn rule include the use of GPS for minute by minute positioning reports as well as electric and wireless inspections. Such wireless inspections would allow law enforcement to waste less time on inspecting vehicles that have no violations, Kraft said.

Recently, the FMCSA also approved a measure to allow their inspectors to use electronic records such as GPS data as supporting documents in hours of service audits. Kraft said the FMCSA did not implement this until recently because of fears that carriers would not adopt the technology.

“All electronic records you have can be used in an hours of service audit,” he said. “With customers it could have a negative affect. Carriers must look at data retention.” With this measure, companies will have to keep electronic data much longer than usual, up to six months in some cases, Kraft added.

Kraft is also a member of the EOBR Task Force, which is part of the ATA’s Technology and Maintenance Council. This task force wants EOBR manufacturers to be more strictly certified. Currently, a manufacturer only must write a letter proclaiming they are certified. The task force recommends a series of checklists, tests and evaluations to certify these devices. “We don’t want to create something to cause confusion,” Kraft added.

The ITA would like to thank the staff at Avalon Risk Management for hosting the meeting and Qualcomm for sponsoring dinner.

For more information about the ITA’s Safety and Maintenance Council, visit www.iltrucking.org or call Randy Thomas at 630-654-0884.