WASHINGTON — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is revamping its vetting process for electronic logging devices to help eliminate non-compliant equipment used to record truck drivers’ hours-of-service (HOS).
“By strengthening our review process for ELDs, we are ensuring the industry can rely on trusted equipment and that hardworking drivers are prioritizing their health and well-being, so they are best prepared to keep driving America’s economy forward,” said FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs in a statement released on Monday.
“American families deserve to feel safe sharing a road with semi-trucks, and we want truck drivers to have the best tools to maximize those safety precautions.”
Loopholes in the previous system made it easier to register sub-standard devices or re-register those that had been revoked, according to FMCSA, which has led to repeated revocations along with “costly, inconvenient replacements” for motor carriers, the agency noted.
Truck fleet operators recently told FreightWaves that a lack of oversight by FMCSA spawned a shadow market of devices that allow companies to edit driver logs, which allows fleets to drive long past the established hours-of-service regulations.
As part of a truck crash report issued last year, the National Transportation Safety Board warned FMCSA to tighten ELD requirements to prevent trucking companies and their drivers from creating fake driver HOS logs.
FMCSA asserted that the new, updated process closes loopholes in the system, “giving carriers and drivers a greater peace-of-mind that the ELDs they purchase are accurate, reliable, and compliant,” and is part of a broader initiative “to strengthen road safety for American families while cutting costs for truck drivers and carriers.”
Features of the new ELD vetting process include:
- Initial review: Verification of contact information, technical specifications, and device images.
- Fraud detection: Cross-checking new applications against active, inactive, revoked, and in-process lists.
- Four application categories: Approved: Application has met all necessary requirements for approval. Information Requested: Application is pending further information from the applicant. Further Review: Application requires additional internal assessment and may require additional documentation from the applicant. Denied: Application does not meet the required standards for approval.
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