Ready or Not: The Countdown to ELD
Since the electronic logging mandate that kicks in on Dec. 18 was first released, Fred Fakkema, vp of compliance at Zonar Systems, and Annette Sandberg, former Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and currently principal at TransSafe Consulting, have heard a plethora of questions and concerns from customers and other stakeholders about the new and far-reaching rule.
They say that even at this late date, there is “still quite a bit to understand about the mandate and its impact on the industry and fleets.” Here, they answer together in depth five pressing questions of concern to fleets as the ELD rule’s initial compliance deadline looms ever closer:
1) Driver turnover is always a concern. Is there any way the ELD mandate can help?
Retention is a major issue for our industry and we’re currently experiencing a shortage of qualified, experienced operators on the road. According to the American Trucking Associations, the driver turnover rate for large companies is at 90%– even though so much of what we need and use each day, like food, medical supplies and other goods, is transported by truck drivers. There’s no one solution because there’s no one cause for why an operator will choose to leave a company or the industry as a whole.
That being said, good driving conditions are a major factor in why drivers will choose to stay. This means making certain processes easier and simpler for the people behind the wheel. The ELD mandate makes ELDs a requirement for almost every commercial driver on the road and the benefits of ELDs are apparent.
Authorized ELDs can help drivers avoid unintentional violations, help them stay compliant, and decrease the time it takes to file paperwork and other logs that can often cause confusion between the driver and safety or fleet …Read the rest of this story
