Do you feel elogs should be mandatory or optional?

everyone knows what i think about elogs

 

I think about 95% of what the government mandates should be optional or nonexistent. And I think that groups like the TCA, ATA, and Alliance for Driver Safety and Security (started by Schneider, Knight, JB Hunt, Maverick, and US Xpress) are all unAmerican for trying to get the government to put restrictions like elogs on everyone. I use an elog, I like it, but it should only be optional.

 

I do paper and like it. never had e-logs. heard a guy asking on radio in a back-up , why his e-log was logging it as off duty. that's falsifying a log !! lol

my answer is optional.

 

Some, like me, also see the advantage of an elog when it comes to legal issues. An enterprising lawyer, on the other side of the table from you in a law suit, can just about find out anything they want of where your were for the last 6 months. All it takes is just one little mistake on paper to ruin your day with that lawyer. The elog is a lot harder for them to use against you than paper. You have just taken away a tool that many lawyers have used to take down a driver.

I find it does cause me to manage my time a little better than I would have using paper. It is easy, especially after several decades of driving, to get a little sloppy about how one plans their time effectively. Not talking extremes here, but with an elog, one needs to stay more focused on doing the job and how to do it more effectively, including route planning. When used right, it can make one more efficient and even save some bucks thru that increased efficiency. And it is true, like Numb stated, to technically be falsifying logs even with an elog. I, generally, will go right to On Duty when I arrive at a customer, and go to Off Duty or Sleeper usually in 10 minutes. No matter what is going on. But then, I did that with paper also, except it was a 15 min block. I won't select On Duty, for instance, until I have swiped my fuel card and the nozzle is in the tank. The minute I shut the pump off, I go back to off duty. I am not going to show every minute washing my windshield, etc as On Duty. So, sure, you can "fudge" the logs. But at least there is a record that the truck didn't go anywhere except maybe a few feet. Not like having a lawyer check a cell phone record that your cell pinged off a tower in Springfield, IL when your log said you were in Chicago. Try getting out of that one.

I like it. I don't want to go back to paper anytime soon. It is not for everyone or every operation, and it shouldn't be mandated. Trucking is too diversified to be fit into a cookie cutter mold.

 

IMO & experience, e-logs help to keep everyone legal.
***climbs into his flame resistant clothing***

 

thats funny..

you are joking, yes ??

 

Keep your elogs..

 

Before E-logs became common in the field, many drivers would drive well beyond their HOS, and the companies came to expect it (and even require it). Drivers could be pressured to drive tired, or run the risk of losing their jobs. Now, I know there are some who will claim that nobody can 'force' a driver to run illegally. I personally call BS on that. A refusal to run illegal could and did result in drivers losing their jobs and income (I was one of them on more than one occassion). And believe it or not, it was not always that easy to find a new job. Especially when former employers would tell perspective employers that a particular driver would put himself ahead of the company.

I ran into this quite frequently as a younger driver, and it is the primary reason why my trucking employment history is so utterly crappy. In the first three years I held my CDL, I didn't stay with a single outfit for more than 3 months because I refused to run illegal. This was back in the days of paper logbooks, and multiple logbooks per driver were normal practice. It wasn't until I hit my fourth year as a CDL holder that I gave up and went outlaw, running multiple logbooks and dodging the DOT like they had tuberculosis. Yeah, I made money. But looking back, I can't believe I survived considering the amount of dumb crap I pulled on a regular basis.

What dumb crap, you ask? Speeding, hauling seriously overwieght (100,000lbs.+) while speeding, running trucks that should have been tossed on the scrapheap, driving 20 hours a day, and other acts I ain't discussing here. Back then, I was considered a "real driver" by all the outlaws.

Thankfully, the days of the outlaws are numbered. And unfortunately, I have issues with getting back into the industry. Having been driven out due to incidents that were blown into accidents more than four years ago, and been stuck with some local outfits that: A) were a greater danger to my license than any BFI; B) also had issues with paying for work performed; and finally C) refuse to verify experience (not that there was much, but there was enough to get me into a "starter" outfit at least), I'm pretty much screwed for coming back.