Big Road - E Log ( iPhone or Android )

I thought I would get on here and share my experience at the scale on Friday. This was at the Louisiana port of entry on I20 coming from TX. I'm in a hotshot truck, 3500 Dodge Cummins/40ft. Gooseneck. I've been told by a few officers that most guys love pulling in this type of setup because most guys don't have everything in check. So, I have 15% tint all the way around, I always roll the front two all the way down when entering scales and have never had an issue, even after having a level 3 and level 1 in the past 3 weeks.

I pull onto the scale and wait for the green light then all of a sudden the officer is at the side of my truck telling me to roll the window up for him, no clue what made him do this but whatever...I got pulled in. I could tell he was the "the law is the law" kind of guy.

He asked for my log and I told him I was running a paperless log and the first thing he asks is if it's printed out. I said that I had a printer in the truck and he immediately came at with me with, "IS it printed out?"...No. He says to follow him into the station, so at this point I knew I had to act dumb to get out of this. I explained to them that I had a level 3 and level 1 recently and was told nothing about being required to have the previous 7 days printed or obviously I would have had them printed out. Which was true but I knew the rule from reading this thread. Like a few of you I thought I wouldn't be bothered and think it's a PITA. So they explain to me that those officers were doing me a disservice and the law is the law. If they wanted they could place me OOS and the violation I would receive...so on.

So, to those of you that think it wont happen to you, it probably will some day...maybe not but I would say it's likely. I think to make things simpler I'm just going to keep track with Big Road and transfer it to loose leaf to keep them happy.

My next question is, does anyone know if it's possible to get the tint violation removed if I present proof that it's been removed from the front two windows? I've received a few tint tickets before in normal vehicles and those are just fix it tickets in NY but the way this works is once that violation is on your record it's final?

-Rob

 

Here is the FMCSA explanation.

http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regu...mcsr/fmcsrruletext.aspx?reg=390.31&guidence=Y
Question 11: May I use electronic methods to generate, sign, maintain and/or exchange any record the FMCSA regulations require without requesting an exemption or obtaining prior permission?
Guidance: You may use electronic methods to generate, sign, maintain and/or exchange any document that is generated and maintained or exchanged by private parties, regardless of whether FMCSA subsequently requires them to be produced or displayed to Agency staff or other parties entitled to access. You do not need to request an exemption or obtain prior permission so long as the electronic record meets all of the regulation’s substantive requirements and remains accessible in a form that can be accurately reproduced for later reference. (This does not apply to documents filed directly with the Agency. See Question No. 6.) Examples of documents generated, maintained or exchanged by private parties include, but are not limited to: Employment applications, driver histories and other qualification records, leases formed under 49 CFR part 376, driver-vehicle inspection reports, and records of duty status. These are only examples of documents about which FMCSA received specific questions and is not an exhaustive list of the types of documents that can be generated, signed, maintained or exchanged electronically.

 

Sorry to tell you all this but EOBRs ARE NOT required to be hooked up to the ECM. There is nothing about this in 395.15 about being hooked up to an ECM and if anyone says there is, please explain it.

Electronic log devices have to indicate a vehicle at rest for change of duty, show state line crossings AND it has to be tamper proof with safeguards to show the driver that it is dis-functioning to be considered EOBRs, there is nothing that says in the regs that they can't be multiple use devices. The manufacturer who has been selling them to fleets and pushing for their use makes this out to be rocket science where only the few can figure out this complex subject - bs!

Many of the apps can easily be fixed to do all the things needed to be a certified EOBR without too much trouble but then those who write these apps need to also certify them to work under different conditions.

That doesn't apply to the driver in this case. This is for the carrier and only the carrier.

Just an FYI -

Question 5: What is an electronic signature?
Guidance: An electronic signature is a method of signing an electronic communication that: (1) Identifies and authenticates a particular person as the source of the electronic communication; and (2) indicates such person’s approval of the information contained in the electronic communication. An electronic signature may be made using any available technology that otherwise satisfies FMCSA’s requirements.

 

This guidance is inconsistent with the guidance regarding electronic documents given on January 4, 2011, and can therefore be considered obsolete. The new guidance clearly states that “if an entity is required to produce documents on demand, those documents may be stored electronically, so long as that entity can produce them in accordance with the Agency's substantive requirements (e.g., immediately and without risk of losing or altering data).” It is therefore acceptable to prepare and store your logs electronically. This is also affirmed in the updated guidance for § 390.31.

 

Warning to Canadian drivers, this app is not designed for you. Big Road is a Canadian company but their main customers are American and so they have not designed their app with you in mind.
They don't have split sleeper time or deferred time in their logs and have told me that there are no plans to put those features in, because the Canadian market is not profitable enough for them - so it is back to paper logs for all of us Canadians. KR

 

I have Eclipse and have been running on my Laptop for almost 10 years now. I print the pervious day every morning and sign it. They have a tablet version I just never got it. The company iv been with for the last 4 years has a specific log page with a bar code on it as they have the logs audited by a 3rd party. I snail mailed several copies of our log page to eclipse and they set up our page so when I print it looks identical to our company logs. It does Canada or us. It has a GPS function and you can buy a GPS device but I just manually enter where I am. Have had inspections over the years, the first few (years ago) tried to get me on something, one guy had to call a supervisor to get clarification on it. He said I HAD to have a paper copy of the day I was working on, I argued no I can print it for you or you can look at my lap top. He wasn't impressed but let me go after making a phone call and getting set straight. I love not having to write it out as my writing g looks like a 3 yr Olds. .... and even the Leo's that didn't know about it, after I showed how it worked liked it. They all liked how clear and easy they are to read.

 

I use keeptrucking app for my logs since january '15 , you can sighn electronically and also have a printer on my truck and can print out if required also fax or email it....i went through probably more than 15 inspections and had no issues so far....