On-Board Electronic Devices
FMCSA should mandate the use of electronic on-board devices for all truckers now
required to keep paper logs
On Dec. 11, 2007, FMCSA announced it is working to finalize a proposed rule that
would require drivers and trucking companies with serious or repeat hours-of-service
violations to track their hours of service using electronic on-board recorders.
Consumer safety groups have long advocated that all commercial trucks be required
to monitor hours-of-service through automatic on-board devices. They have blasted
this proposal as too weak to be effective, and another indication that the agency
is controlled by the trucking industry.
Current regulations allow truck drivers to record their hours in written logbooks
that are reviewed by inspectors. Studies of long-distance truck drivers have found
that work rules commonly are violated. About a third of drivers interviewed by the
Institute admitted to often or sometimes omitting hours from their log books. Some
truck drivers refer to logbooks as "comic books" because they are so easily
falsified.
The pressure to skirt hours of service rules comes directly from trucking companies
that place a premium on meeting unrealistic delivery schedules over safety of their
own drivers and the public.
Onboard computers reduce opportunities for violating the rules because they automatically
record when a truck is driven. Europe began requiring the use of electronic recording
devices in January 2006.
http://www.saferoads.org/issues/fs-truckdriverfatigue.htm