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30 • ROCK products • July 2017 www.rockproducts.com ELECTRONIC LOGGING DEVICE I n a world that continues to place increasing demands on truck drivers to transport products all over the United States, it is the role of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to ensure truck drivers are not over- worked, placing themselves and others at risk. In an effort to improve safety on the road for all drivers, the FMCSA has mandated that as of Dec. 16, 2017, all truck operators must convert to elec- tronic logs instead of paper logs. The two-year window given by the FMCSA is coming to a close and it's time for drivers and carriers to embrace compliance with the new electronic log- ging device (ELD) mandate. Understanding the New Mandate First, it's important to know that the ELD mandate includes a number of provisions intended to help reduce crashes, injuries and fatalities involving large trucks and buses. The mandate aims to hold motor carriers and drivers to the foremost safety standards while removing the highest risk drivers, vehi- cles and carriers from the road. The FMCSA's ELD mandate establishes the following: 1. Minimum performance and design standards for recording hours-of-ser- vice through ELDs. 2. A rule for the mandatory use of ELDs by drivers that requires prepar- ing hours of service (HOS) as a part of records of duty status (RODS). 3. Requirements concerning HOS sup- porting documents. 4. Measures to address concerns about harassment resulting from the mandatory use of ELDs. ELDs sync with a truck's engine to capture additional data points such as power status, motion status, miles driven and engine hours to adhere to compliance. Under the new man- date, all of this information should be available to authorized safety officials during roadside inspections and as part of on-site or other reviews. Are There Benefits to Drivers? For many years, drivers have been using paper logbooks to record their compliance with hours of service requirements. However, this process is incredibly time consuming. ELDs improve the process by automatically recording hours of service on an in-cab device, which is connected directly to the truck's engine. Also, some systems actually afford more drive time by tracking HOS by the minute rather than in 15-minute increments, as is standard with manual tracking. In addition to streamlining recordkeep- ing, making the switch to ELDs means roadside inspections will be much faster, as drivers will simply need to provide a screen display of their e-logs or take part in a roadside data trans- fer. Drivers will also have the tools and data necessary to avoid stiff financial penalties under Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA Regulations), and companies may see their insurance premiums decrease over time, due to a reduction in accidents. Who Exactly Falls Under the New ELD Mandate? The ELD mandate applies to all drivers who are currently required to keep a RODS log. Carriers and drivers using paper logs today will be required to install or use a compliant ELD two years after the effective date. According to the FMCSA, the mandate is estimated to affect approximately 3.1 Understanding the ELD Mandate The Electronic Logging Device Mandate is Drawing Near. Here's What You Need to Know. By Jeff Van Grootel ELD data components.