May 2018
Compliancy and Impact of the ELD Mandate
To create safe highways and reduce the risk of injury due to driver fatigue, the Department of Transportation (DOT) imposes limits on the amount of time that a commercial truck driver can be on the road each week. Regulations regarding hours of service can be complex, but compliance is essential. Failure to keep the right records or comply with restrictions could lead to harsh penalties for your brand or business.
Hours of Service
A driver’s active time behind the wheel is limited by DOT regulations; it enforces Hours of Service with punitive measures, including hefty fines for those who fail to comply.
From taking the correct number of breaks to tracking hours on the road, each driver must follow a variety of regulations to avoid penalties.
When logging of a driver’s Hours of Service changed to be electronic logging versus paper logging, it has had an impact on three groups: drivers, carriers, and shippers.
The Impact on Drivers
Each individual driver needs to electronically record their time spent in a 24-hour period, including details about when the driver is on duty (working but not driving) actively driving, off duty and sleeping. Before electronic logging, paper logs could be manipulated to give a driver more driving hours. The change to electronic logging has caused some drivers to either retire or quit, further exacerbating the driver shortage.
Before these new rules went into effect, the trucking industry was already 50,000 drivers short of what was needed to meet the demand.
The Impact on Carriers
Because ALL carriers are now required to use electronic logging devices in each truck, every carrier is now on even ground. Previously, some carriers who used paper logs could take advantage of the system, and some drivers would lie when logging driver hours.
The shortage of drivers and driving hours has directly impacted the amount of freight that can be hauled. The improved economy is providing an abundance of freight, but the tight driver capacity cannot accommodate it all.
Because of this, carriers are being selective of the freight they haul and are reluctant to haul freight that requires excessive loading and unloading times. Drivers can only have three hours of non-driving time each day, and if shippers are using that three hours and more to load or unload, then that additional time reduces a drivers available on-duty driving time. Carriers can’t afford wasted hours, and drivers don’t like it either. Each driving hour wasted costs both the carrier and driver productivity and revenue. Because of this tightness, carriers are requesting higher freight rates and asking shippers to pay for excessive detention times.
The Impact on Shippers
Shippers will be forced to pay higher freight rates because freight demand exceeds the capacity of the carriers. However, they can do a few things that can offset higher rates. Extending the available loading and receiving times to adequately receive freight will allow drivers more flexibility of loading and unloading. They can make sure that they have ample staff to quickly load and unload trucks, thus eliminating detention fees. They can possibly provide space for drivers to park their trucks and take sleeper breaks.
These things can make it easier for carriers to do business and keep their drivers happy by allowing them to use their available driving hours as efficiently as possible.
Add On Systems’ solutions are designed to make it easy to plan driver hours with loads, track HoS, manage drivers, and monitor and bill detention time when applicable. Add On Systems has a wide range of tools to help carriers manage driver hours, load planning, CSR order tracking, and detention.