FMCSA Will Mandate EOBRs for Log Violators

Posted on April 7, 2010 
Filed Under GETTING AUDITED, HORROR STORIES, HOURS OF SERVICE, IN THE NEWS

The FMCSA issued a rulemaking last week which will force motor carriers accused of violating the hours of service regulations to install electronic on-board recorders (EOBR) in all of their trucks. Here is the Federal Register. It’s 46 pages long, so I’m not going to regurgitate it all here.

An EOBR is a computer-GPS type device which tracks where the driver and the truck are at. Basically, it takes the place of a logbook. It shows everywhere the driver has been, and the times he was at those locations. It is extremely difficult to falsify your hours of service, if an EOBR is recording where you are.

FMCSA’s regulations state that if a motor carrier is alleged to have 10% of more violations in a “critical” hours of service regulation, that motor carrier will be forced to install the EOBRs within 60 days. The motor carrier will be required to keep the EOBRs in the trucks for 2 years. These regulations will be effective on June 4, 2012.

This is a big deal. As far as the hours of service regulations go, I have always used the speed limit analogy. The limit might be 55 miles per hour, but no one actually drives 55, and it’s not enforced at 55. It’s enforced more like 10 miles over. It’s the same with the logbooks. If you do not have an EOBR, then your logs must match whatever timed documents you have, such as tolls, fuel statement, scale tickets. This enables drivers to cheat an hour or two here and there. Not so with an EOBR. Every last thing the driver does, is visible to DOT.

For the over-the-road, for-hire type carriers, if you don’t want to be forced to install black boxes in the trucks, and be forced to run strictly legal, then you cannot fail the hours of service part of a DOT audit. If you are forced to install the EOBRs, you’ll lose drivers, operational flexibility, and probably customers too, as your competitors won’t be subject to limitations of running strictly legal. Then there’s the cost of buying the equipment. These units are probably going to cost between $1,000 and $3,000 to install per unit. Then you have the cost to train the drivers, that’s another several thousands of dollars in lost time. Basically, if you have 10 trucks, you could be looking at $20,000 – 30,000 worth of equipment and training. If you don’t have the cash flow to make that kind of outlay, you’ll be done.

If you are not an over-the-road guy, say you’re a landscaper or construction outfit, this rule applies to you as well. Maybe your drivers only work 8 hours a day, but you’re sloppy on your paperwork, and they don’t fill out time records every day, like they should. If DOT finds more than 10% of your time records missing, you have to get the EOBRs. At least for the over-the-road drivers, the EOBRs do provide some benefit, such as tracking your vehicles, and eliminating that 5 minutes a day a driver fills out his logs, but if you’re a landscaper, you just bought a very expensive technology you don’t need.

The good news is this won’t happen for another 2 years, so I will revisit the topic before then. My recommendation is that you thoroughly audit your logs on a monthly basis…. or hire someone like me to do it for you. If you are getting audited, you’d better have me there, because if they write you up for log violations, you’d better get a loan to buy all the EOBRs the government demands you have.

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