Anyone Experienced ELD HOS Fines?

We have hired several drivers who claim to have ELD experience but clearly cant grasp it, its usually the older drivers, the younger less experienced guys catch on quicker as they are usually more tech savvy. That being said the ones that cant seem to catch on rack up several Avoidable HOS Violations day after day.

For example;

- Not taking 30 minute break, or marking it as a 30 min. break but only taking like 29.5 mins..
- Claiming someone else's unidentified event which can cause a driving event to show up in the middle of the 10h reset causing a multiple HOS violation reaction.
- forgetting to pair while driving, not claiming the event when prompted and we are unable to suggest till drivers next driving log (per fmcsa…)
- Doing a Pre Trip Inspection but forget to go On Duty to record it. (not a finable offense but could be def cause more liability in the event of accident caused by faulty truck etc.)

How does the DOT handle this when doing a roadside inspection? we have been fortunate that all the inspection we have had the drivers logs were good. In most cases the violations purely unintentional but for instance the above violations cannot be corrected on a true ELD. Does the DOT give a fine for each violation?

Do you guys have any recommendations on handling drivers and logs? if I fired every driver for sloppy logs I would only have a couple left. I don't see how the mega carriers can even manage their fleet when dealing with 1000's of trucks..

 

The ones that just plain refuse to change what they are doing, fire them. I hate the ELD's but it's just another change we have to live with. Your problem when it comes will be in a compliance review. They don't even have to come to your office anymore for an HOS review. You just receive the letter and have X days to forward the drivers they pick. A couple of smaller company's I know have had one like that. They will see every edit that was done and every violation that occurred. If your system can't provide that, then it is not a compliant system.

 

Unfortunately that is the nature of the beast. Some people just have zero interaction with technology and when you tell someone something like "tap the icon" or use a phrase like "driving event" it's completely alien sounding and a big learning curve to get their heads in the right mind. Laziness can be a contributing factor but often times what appears to be laziness on the surface is actually frustration leading to giving up.

I began installing our ELD's and training our drivers two years ago in preparation for the December 2019 deadline. I started them on AOBRD mode which allows a little tweaking to and then updated them to full ELD mode a year later. Up until April 2018 the FMCSA was only performing a 'soft enforcement' of the new ELD rules. At this point in time the vast majority of officers simply didn't even bother looking at the ELD and were taking a laissez-faire attitude towards them. There is still a large percentage of jurisdictions where they are ill equipped for these devices and seem to be ignoring them but most are up to speed by now, NYS as an example being particularly aggressive.

I don't really see a solution for problem drivers now that we are out of that early enforcement period other than developing an intense training program and then eventually letting drivers go who are unwilling or unable to improve. We're in the business to make money and that's the bottom line.

 

Yeppers. As harsh as it sounds if someone refuses to do their job then they need to be let go. And let's not think it's other than that. They simply are unwilling to do their job.
Would you keep someone that was late all the time because they overslept everyday? This is no different.

Now does that mean fire on the first offense? Of course not. Everyone forgets and makes an oops. As long as it's rare.

 

I agree with many others who posted earlier. I don't think age is the issue. I would lean more towards stubbornness. It's so freakin easy to operate the ELDs, and I'm not a young guy. I'll wager the same drivers you are having issues with can fully function on their cell phones. Which are much more complicated these days.

 

I really appreciate all of your responses! and now that I think deeper about it you guys are right because most of the drivers that aren't good/willing to get up to speed with logs are also usually the guys that are a consistent 10-15 mins late....

 

We went live today w our Peoplenet ELD tablets.
2 hour meetings and plenty of handouts but what really struck me was how many violations there can be and the weight given to them, in addition to the cash fines.
I don't believe I have all my ducks lined up yet but I'm trying.

https://keeptruckin.com/blog/22-eld-violations/

 

You are dealing I suspect those of my generation.

If they refuse to accept retraining to operate the ELD properly or worse refuse to properly follow the HOS, eliminate them from your work force.

I am old and set in my ways myself. But I know how to take a 40 minute break, even though everything that I am refuses and reject such stupid things because when you are rolling out your 10 or 11 hours any delay endangers the ability to find lawful parking at the end of the day's run. It will just cost me some quarters in video games and be a total waste.

As such you will find me doing a 10 hour driving day instead of 11. That way the 40 minute break time loss is disposed of, and there is no daily violating trying to find parking which is a much more serious issue.

In other words, I work around the limitations of today's HOS in ELD.

And yes there are times that truck must move during a off duty or sleeper berth sequence and as a driver I would just eat the violation and the fine, slap on wrist or whatever your company offers as punishment. The offense is so minor. You don't want to be firing drivers for that little bitty bit. It will serve you better to ask the driver why did he or she move that truck or otherwise commit a violation? You are not interested in punishment but rather learning the why. And the associated story.

I do one thing however. If a dispatcher calls me or texts me or messages me during my sleeper berth time, its going on duty. That will be one example of why there are violations. So you can know enough to tell your dispatcher hands off that driver until X hour of the day after the prescribed time off or sleep period.

Just a thought.

 

Many changes in my 45 yrs out here.
I need one more contract at work, 1 more license renewal and 2 more dot physicals.
Boys at the plant are telling me I will want to go on to "yard move" when loading and scaling before leaving plant to save drive time and I told em I don't see me ever using it to save 3 minutes...I'll just shut it down and get a room.

 

I don't mark 30 min break as such, always assuming as obvious that the most recent at least 30 min break serves as one. I never heard that was the law to mark it either. Am I right or wrong?