ELD Mandate: Don’t Rest Easy If You’re Grandfathered with AOBRDs
By David Cullen
Grandfather clause in the ELD rule excuses carriers and drivers from complying so long as they are already using automatic onboard recording devices. But it’s only a temporary fix — the clause expires in less than two years.
“>
Being “grandfathered” may have a warm and cozy ring to it. But when that term applies to the electronic logging device mandate, don’t let a vision of idly playing checkers across a cracker barrel while swigging back a cold root beer draw your eye away the calendar.
To be grandfathered means to meet certain conditions that allow one to remain under the provisions of a given law or regulation after a newer measure has taken legal precedence for all other affected parties.
The grandfather clause in the electronic logging device rule excuses carriers and drivers from complying with the ELD rule so long as they are already using previously compliant automatic onboard recorder devices to track driver hours of service. To be perfectly clear, a grandfathered AOBRD is an e-log device that a motor carrier installed and required its drivers to use before the ELD rule’s actual Dec. 18, 2017, compliance date.
But it’s only a temporary fix. The clause expires in less than two years, on Dec. 16, 2019. At that point, all AOBRDs will have to be replaced by ELDs.
The reason AOBRDs will be phased out is they do not meet the technical specifications that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has required for ELDs. A carrier may not recognize much difference between an AOBRD and an ELD, according to Joe DeLorenzo, director of FMCSA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance. And in some cases, a vendor may be able to convert existing AOBRDs to ELDs with very few visible differences.
One of the biggest difference between the types of logging devices is that the ELD …Read the rest of this story
