The debate rages on over the use of Electronic OnBoard Recorders in trucks nationwide. Some drivers don’t mind them, others are vehemently against them, the ATA has voiced their support, and OOIDA stands firmly in opposition.
According to a survey from trucking acquisition firm Transport Capital Partners, in February of 2013, 35% of fleets surveyed said that they use EOBRs or electronic logs in all of their trucks. Compare that to May of 2012 when that was true of only 25%.
It’s worth noting that the survey was conducted about fleets, not individual drivers, so these numbers may not accurately reflect the number of individual trucks with electronic logs. In fact, that number may be even higher.
The survey also said 43% of large carriers have fully implemented EOBRs into every one of their trucks. Large carriers make up such a large percentage of the trucks on the road, but 71% of small carriers said that they were not using them at all, so it’s tough to even guess at how many trucks might carry them.
As a sign that most fleets are at least curious about what the benefits actually end up being, nearly 70% of all fleets said that they were at least testing out EOBRs to see if they wanted to use them with the rest of their fleet.
Whether you’re for or against EOBRs, one thing’s for sure: They’re coming, and they’re coming fast.
Next Story: New Driver Training Found To Be Lacking
Source: overdriveonline
Personally as a O/O I am on the fence about them. On one hand they can be a saving grace for a driver to use to defend his or her rest time and prevent a company from pushing them. On the other hand it can also allow that same company to micro manage a driver to a point of exhaustion. The end result is that if most OTR fleets adopt EOBR’s it will be forced onto the entire industry so get used to them or prepare to leave the industry. Washington DC is full of politician’s who want to decide what is best for you. They do not trust you to fill out your log book properly so you must turn that over to a box. But to be fair, Europe has been doing this for a long time. So it does not surprise me given the nature and ideology of the current administration to push forward with more of this kind of big brother legislation.
This whole thing is about fear. Those against EOBR’s come at the issue primarily from fear and not logic. The tired arguments about carriers “micro managing” drivers, “harassing” drivers, etc is telling. Drivers are unwilling to grow a pair and stand up and say “tough”. I have been on electronic logs for 2 years and 3 months with my present carrier. We have a clear understanding. I determine when the truck will move and stop. I know the regulations, and will comply with them. If the clock says I can move, there will be NO input from the carrier as to whether the truck is actually moving or not. I will determine when the truck rolls. I will keep in mind my customers, and their needs, but will not play roll over for them and violate regulations. When they call a plumber or an electrician, that person will not violate building codes to keep things cheap and rush the job. Neither will I. That sad thing is that there are so many mentally immature folks in trucking. For me, we will either act like adults and conduct ourselves with respect for each other, or you can find someone else to haul the freight. The EOBR does nothing that the paper log would do, if one was actually following the regulations. And it is time for the wimps in the industry to quit being so frightened over a little technology. The EOBR is nothing but some micro processors and chips housed in a plastic box that does the job of drawing lines and calculating hours off the driver’s hands. No different that using a multi layered relational spreadsheet to do one’s bookeeping instead of a ledger book and a box of receipts. Grow up.
1) If the EOBRs are made only for the records of HOS, why they are connected to satellite, providing in real time everything about the driver?? In Europe, the EOBR is connected ONLY to ECM.
2) For now, it’s OK to have an EOBR. It was like that in Europe, too. But … only at the beginning. Now, you can cash a ticket of 1600 Euros (2000 USD) for 15 to 30 min driving over the time you are allowed to drive in a day. The EOBRs are better then a goldmine. For some people. Do you think here it will be different??
3) Actually, is not the EOBR itself creating the problems and making the drivers to run away from them. The regulations!!! For somebody who has a dedicated run … yes, it’s working. We all know there is a big issue with available safe parking. In top of that, they came with that stupid rule of resetting the 70 hours. Sometimes I have to quit even 3 hours of driving in a day because I’m not sure if I can make it to a safe spot to park and/or the one I need. These two issues together makes me to loose a lot of money.
Don’t forget! We are paid for moving goods from one place to another. Not for driving 11 hours instead of 11,15 hours. And… by the way. If I’m driving 15 min over the 11 hours I’m not safe!? I can show you millions of 3rd shift workers, driving their cars with the eyes almost closed at 7.00 AM, in a rush hour traffic. Do they have any EOBRs and regulations!?
Safety is about education, training and being responsible. Stop thinking about gadgets which can improve your life. The only thing who can improve the life on Earth are the people, not the gadgets. Grow up!
We are supposed to be driving within the rules in the first place. If you follow the law, then EBRs are not a problem.
Your ignorance about technology is pretty glaring, too.
Totally agree with this statement, though, there shouldn’t be a government mandate to have them in all trucks.
I love EOBR, but I would never support a law that would forces them upon them. Even though I think those against are too against new technology. People need to adapt to change better, IMO.
Not saying you are for such a law, but it was absent from your post.
Wimps scared of technology? WAKE UP MAN! Why are so many people just laying down and letting our freedom slowly leave and never come back? Why don’t we just let know it all beauracrats ride in every truck to tell us what we are doing wrong. I have been trucking for 10 years and I have always run “my way”. What do you yuppies do for 34 hours anyway sittin at a truckstop while I’m making money? What do you do if you wake up and still have 4 hours left on your “10” hour break? If you are not smart enough to know your own limitations you are in the wrong prfession. But hey, if you are confortable with the government controling every aspect of your life that’s cool. You “wimps” park up and and do whatever yall do for the mandatory break. Just don’t imposee ur bullchit on the rest of us who like to work hard
I would be FORCED to suggest that Cliff Downing is a rookie. Most likely a driving school graduate. Any Professional driver knows that, NO machine can make a driver safe. No law, or mandate can make a driver safe, it is 100% up o the driver, to make themselves safe. If the drivers would quit being “scared” and stand up for themselves, as a group. things would be a lot different.
How can PATT, Pubic Citizen, MADD, and all these other groups of people make rules for the trucking industry, when they know nothing at all about the business? Just because one reads some “reports”, does not, in any way, make them an expert, nor qualify them to make decisions concerning the industry. It is exactly the same thing as a plumber telling a surgeon how to do his job. How long do you thing a surgeon would tolerate such nonsense? How many patients would that surgeon have? You can not fix stupid, people!
Plumkrazee you are right
there will be a lot of o/o quit b-4 being told how to do his job and after 40 years out here
I will be one of them gone
Let’s be honest most drivers hate it because they cheat on logs anyway, not say all but a majority do. Some drivers are scared of technology I have heard them say to me ” I don’t even own a computer at home and don’t want one,” so I do think some are scared. I agree I wouldn’t support a mandate because those things are not cheap but think about this if you spend 2-3k on chrome on your truck to look good but when DOT pulls you have to look for the second legit logbook then IMO that’s crazy. No it is not for everyone because some guys are driving because they like to drive not for the money so they can drive a little then stop and chat at their favorite truck stop but the ones that know the have an ETA to meet shouldn’t. It all boils down to time management that’s all, people need to quit looking for stuff that’s not there it is always a conspiracy going on to someone. If it makes the highways safe from Joe Trucker trying to get to the west coast in 2 days then I’m for it I have family on the road that want to be safe and not injured because someone took a load that they couldn’t cover in the first place greedy.
It’s about not driving fatigued. EOBR is like having DOT in the cab with you. When I drove I cheated on my paper log to the extent of getting an extra ten hours a week and making my deliveries on time. I needed that flexibility. Back then Werner was the big company with he electronic log and it was set up to do electronically to do what I did on paper–cheat here and there–so its drivers would compete with the paper logged ones. DOT must have known this. For instance I was once caught not moving on the Cross Bronx Expressway. Did you know that there was a rest area there I pulled into? With the Werner log I was told if the truck dropped below several miles per hour for a certain amount of time you were automatically placed electronically into a rest area.
If I get back into driving I’ll probably team up to keep the truck moving as much as possible. I hate it when it’s stopped except for food and fuel and little stop-over breaks to stretch my legs. On the other hand I hate cops who give out speeding tickets when I’m not speeding as one did in Van Horn Texas in 2002. He said I was doing 76 on the level but I was governed to 65. He either lied or he got me on radar when I crossed the “T” where radar is most apt to be ineffective.
Where I load it takes 5 hrs and I nap. Then go to work how do you work that with EOBR? When I drive if I want to take a nap when I feel like it not when I’m told to.
this is my point to the tee. I drive regional with two too 4 stopshen a back haul , most days I only get to drive 7 hours and have to wait till morning to finish to get back haul only to take another break due to 14 hour rule, and Im not tired or sleepy but forced to take a break,then after break I can drive and I do get tired and could take a nap but that would mess up my time again. Also have benn on way home to have home time and have to take a break 1 to 3 hours away from home and have to take and that messes up home time. I do like Qualcom for messing point but not for gps tracking ( e- logs ). I like to listen to my body, eat when i need to eat work when rested, sleep when im tired. YHou cannot make yourself sleep just because your 14 hours are up it it depends on your day
Not too thrilled over the electronic logs. I used to drive for C.R. England (boo!) and had a EOBR. It was very common to get “busted” just from stopping for fuel. You’re fuel times and EOBR times wouldn’t sync up unless you made sure to stop before you got under the pumps ceiling because it would not register your stop as a fuel stop until you got out from under the overhang and it sent the information. Which then it logged it after the fuel was purchased creating a “violation”. On paper logs…I can’t count how many times you “get back” 7 minutes at a rest area by being done in 8 minutes and be able to log it as 15. May not seem like much but it adds up and may give you that extra 5 minutes you need to get someplace to park. Trivial stuff I know…but their advantages and disadvantages to the machine. I for one…would prefer to stick with my paper logs and Drivers Daily Log software.
This entire industry is a flat out mess . People are making rules that have no clue . We drivers just sit around and complain, fight with each other and do nothing to ban together and stop the madness . If drivers were paid like we should be getting paid , there would be no need for Elogs , Think about it , Why do drivers cheat on paper logs ……. to make up for the lack of pay we get . Shippers and recievers dont give a dam about thedriver , they only want thier crap delivered when they want it .Trucking companies dont give a crap about the driver , they are only looking to fill thier pockets .I dont see this indusrty changing at all , Its only goig to get worse for the driver . It will never change . I have 6 more moths and I am done with this insanity .
The good thing about the EOBR is your dispatcher cannot argue about it. I run one now and I love it. I know at a glance how many hrs I have for the day and week, I can tell dispatch I only have 10 hrs for tomorrow and they have to work out a schedule for me to fit those hrs. Only thing I don’t like is those annoying IDLE WARNING or SPEED WARNINGS. My company does not give us crap over it but it still irritates me to have to slow down going down hill,just in case.
Only problem I have had is when I drove a 2012 Volvo with the distance control. I was told I had to many sudden decelleration viotations. I asked the safety man if anyone else was getting too many and he looked it up and found out only the drivers in Volvo were getting them. If a vehicle passes you and come back over to quickly them damn Volvos will jam on the brakes.
Those warnings are selectable depending on provider. While idle time is a major issue here, we have no warnings set up in the QC to flag over idle or over speed. All data is dumped to the company so they can see how long in what gear and other information but as of now, we’re not being held to it. Idle warnings are passed by the FMs here. Those of us without APUs that is.
Very simple. It is not the EOBR that is the issue, it is the current HOS rules that are the issue. The EOBR merely forces compliance with a set of poorly thought out regulations. I agree with those here regarding paper logs- if one were logging legal, there would be zero difference between that log and the EOBR. I am not anyone’s mama and I’m not driving your truck but if “you” whomever you are had or have trouble logging legal on paper, you are going to to hate the EOBR when it kicks you in the butt. There is no comparing electronic to paper. And unfortunately, it isn’t going away soon.
We are wanting to find out some information on eobr’s. We are leased to a company we own our truck and our trailer, we have an Eobr, is there a time limit for driving that the company can set for personal driving? Your on the road, your off duty, no load, you wanna go visit a place or location. We are on our own personal time, but that’s the only transportation we have, to go visit whatever place. Is their a certain amount of time we can drive? Thanks Deanna
myself they can stick eobr where the sun done shine, I was with a co. that had them and lets face it you can’t make any $$$ with them when your only doing 63-65 mph let alone if your running out of hours late at night and nowhere to park and another thing is let some idoit cut you off and you have to get into the brakes a little hard you will find yourself in a hard braking event and you will get that little message on the QC to call dispatch then if you have too many YOU WILL get called into safety dept.the government and the large carriers are out to brain wash you into thinking its safer,but its not true.most carriers give drivers lds that are already late and want you to still get it there on time. how many drivers out their find themselves always in a hurry because they are on a clock that’s against them. sit in the truck stops and see how many driver you see speeding in the parking lot trying to find a parking spot before they’re in violation.myself im back on paper logs and my life,nerves and blood pressure are nowhere near where they once was when I was on them! NOOO EOBR’S FOR ME AGAIN!