Electronic Driver Logs

A new Federal mandate might be on the horizon in the domestic trucking industry, and many people in the industry, including freight forwarders, carriers, drivers and shippers, are awaiting more news. The new regulation involves a requirement of electronic onboard recorders (EOBRs) or electronic driver logs (EDLs) to be used in trucks. In fact, as it stands, this would require all commercial trucks in the US to have the electronic driver log. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the Department of Transportation are developing this electronic driver log rule. This is part of recent mandates set in place to try to reduce the risk of truck driver fatigue by using technology to monitor the time a driver is on the road.

The new electronic log rules were originally going to be announced earlier, but it appears they might not be approved until 2014. After federal approval, there could be a grace period of up to two years before all commercial trucks must garnish the electronic driver logs. Although there are many different electronic devices used in the market, some carriers are concerned about the cost of buying one for each truck. The good news is there might be a new Smartphone app for this. Most truck drivers have a mobile Smartphone, so this could help cut down the cost of buying many new devices.

Once the mandate is implemented, the impact on how you ship freight by truck would be measured. We will have to wait and see exactly how the world of freight reacts to the mandate.