The final compliance deadline for mandated electronic logging devices in U.S. trucks will arrive Dec. 17.
Beginning on that date, all motor carriers and drivers subject to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) electronic logging devices final rule must use an ELD.
The deadline also applies to “grandfathered” automatic onboard recording devices, which after Dec. 17 will no longer be allowed under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations to provide records of duty status as a substitute to a required ELD. Motor carriers utilizing an automatic onboard recording device must have a fully operational ELD installed by Dec. 17.
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance — a nonprofit association comprised of local, state, provincial, territorial and federal commercial motor vehicle safety officials — said in a news release that inspectors will begin fully enforcing the ELD rule on Dec. 17; there will be no “soft enforcement” grace period.
In addition, the release said the FMCSA has said there will be no extensions or exceptions made to the Dec. 17 ELD rule deadline. According to enforcement guidelines in the North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria, the release said a property-carrying driver who does not have a record of duty status in his or her possession when one is required will be declared out of service for 10 hours and a passenger-carrying driver without a record of duty status when one is required will be placed out of service for eight hours.
An electronic logging device automatically records a driver’s driving time and other hours-of-service data as a way to minimize driver fatigue and improve safety, according to the release.
The device monitors a vehicle’s engine data and can detect when the vehicle is moving.
The FMCSA has published an online list of frequently-asked-questions about the ELD mandate.
Related articles
Produce shipments, truck rates down so far in 2019
