Nati Harnik/AP
- The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance confirmed in a press release that it would begin enforcing the electronic-logging-device mandate on December 17, and noted that truckers would have no 'soft enforcement' grace period to adopt the latest technology.
- The agency enforces rules implemented by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Previously, truckers could alternatively use automatic onboard recording devices but a change to the rules requires that all truck drivers now use ELDs, according to a press release sent out Monday. That rule would be fully enforced beginning December 17, the release said.
- The ELD mandate originally came into effect in December 2017, and was intended to enforce hours-of-service rules for truckers to help prevent crashes and injuries.
- But several truckers told Business Insider that the mandate had instead damaged their ability to make a living, and made their jobs more unsafe.
- The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration revised its hours-of-service rules in August in response to complaints, but left the ELD mandate untouched.
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The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance confirmed that it would begin fully enforcing a new change to its unpopular electronic-logging-device (ELD) mandate on December 17, with no "soft enforcement" grace period for truckers to adapt to the new rules.
The original mandate came into effect two years ago, spearheaded by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which oversees all of America's commercial drivers, including its 1.8 million long-haul truckers. The agency said that long haul truck drivers needed to either use an electronic logging device or an automatic onboard recording device beginning in December 2017, and gave truck drivers a three month grace period to adapt to the rules.
The latest change in the mandate says that truckers will no longer be allowed to use automatic onboard recording devices. And the CVSA, which is tasked with enforcing FMCSA regulations through roadside inspections, says that it will enforce the latest change to the FMCSA's mandate without any allowances made for drivers switching from the old onboard recording device to the electronic logging device.
The CVSA's press release said that there would "be no extensions or exceptions made to the Dec. 17, 2019, ELD rule deadline," and that "inspectors will begin fully enforcing the ELD rule on Dec. 17."
A widely unpopular rule
The ELD mandate was originally intended to help enforce hours-of-service rules for truckers, by ensuring truckers don't drive for more than 11 hours a day, that they work a maximum of 14 hours a day, and that they take regular breaks. But it has drawn the ire of truck drivers who complain that the mandate has slashed salaries and just made the job more unsafe.
Truckers like Steve Manley, 52, told Business Insider last May that the ELD mandate had simply pushed drivers to beat the clock, with no regard for the consequences.
"The electronic logs are supposed to make it safer, but really it has created a hazardous race to beat the clock," Manley said. "Drivers are now more reckless than ever trying to make it to their destination before the clock runs out with the mandatory breaks and such."
This August, the FMCSA announced it would modify its longstanding hours-of-service rules, in response to the many driver complaints it had received about the ELD mandate. It made five changes, to make truck driver shifts more flexible. But it left the electronic-logging-device requirement untouched.