3 ways ELDs Should Help Prevent Driver Coercion
Photo: FMCSA
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Photo: FMCSA
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Drivers, of course, are at the heart of the electronic logging device mandate that kicks in just over four months from now, on December 18. According to Pete Allen, executive vice president of MiX Telematics, which provides ELD solutions, it was concern about how drivers might be impacted by rule change that compelled the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to put “provisions in place to prevent issues of harassment, one of which is driver coercion.”
Allen told HDT that the rule includes these three technical requirements to help protect drivers from being coerced into violating federal hours-of-service regulations:
Unassigned Driving Time: The ELD device must track all miles associated with the vehicle. If any mileage is not assigned to a driver, it is labeled as Unassigned Driving Time.
When drivers log onto an ELD, they must be prompted if the vehicle they are in has any unassigned driving time. If a driver is responsible for any unassigned driving time, he or she must identify it as his or her own, and then the system will automatically update the driver’s Record of Duty Status. Managers should also monitor unassigned driving time from their vendor’s portal or reports. There may be unassigned driving time that is unaccounted for, and managers will need to remind the specific driver who drove the vehicle at that time to accept the unassigned driving time to remain compliant.
Edits to RODS/HOS: Under the rule, drivers are responsible for their RODS/HOS.
This requirement means the driver has the final say on any changes made to their RODS/HOS. The technical requirements require ELD devices to allow drivers to edit their own HOS logs, and to view and accept or reject any edits made by a manager. At driver log in, the ELD must prompt the driver if any …Read the rest of this story
