E-Logs - the good, the bad & the ugly

I have Xata Turnpike paired to my Blackberry . Drivers from other terminals have other smartphones . Among the options under remarks is Free Input . We could enter "Adverse Conditions " here then e-mail safety to explain why we are being shown in violation of the 11 hours .
I never stop when a malfunction erroneously shows me in violation other than to notify safety of the problem .

 

Whether a system shuts the truck down , allows a buffer , or allows the truck to continue are options selected by the carrier and most likely the choices the carrier considers best will not agree with the preferences drivers will state here .
I have had problems with my system where the Blackberry will not connect with the tracker . A yellow screen will appear on the Blackberry . I can then go to a manual mode but must enter locations and mileage readings . Once the problem is corrected (last couple of times by unplugging and resetting the tracker ) the manual entries will be entered and the screen will go back to normal .

 

I understand where you are coming from but to simplify my point - we work in a very very diverse industry where if a system can exist without a thorough eduction of the end user, it would already exist.

Not to discourage you in anyway but I've done a lot of work behind DDL to make it work for me, this includes taking ECM data and so on to act as an EOBR for my purposes. I know what is needed for this by using four or five different programs and came up with what works for me at the level of detail that I need. Without my experience in the truck, with real world situations, I could not begin to understand what was needed or how to approach it.

 

I think solar flares and EMP's would be a better and more likely solution to the problem. Getting people to do the right thing when it comes to regulating an industry is much harder and more unlikely. Seriously, most of that Big Brother stuff is NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS! I am for reasonable and sensible regulation but that is not what we are experiencing. Why add extra costs and inconveniences to an industry that can do better with less?

 

EOBR's don't have to add extra costs . The system from XRS has no upfront or equipment costs . The $30 a month fee is recovered by counting each minute and not requiring 15 minute intervals . It has the convenience of showing at a glance how many hours you have used and have remaining on your 11 , 14, and 70 .
The only "cost" is loss of revenue to those who run illegally .
If every carrier had a competent safety department the issue with EOBR's never would have come about . There has been too much publicity of multiple fatality accidents involving HOS violations .

 

Actually, that wasn't the extra cost I was referring to. I am saying most of the information required by our current log system isn't necessary. What is important is that we get enough downtime before we start driving or working again. There are simpler ways to do that without wasting so much of the driver's time. Anything beyond that is NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS!

 

I agree that it is none of their business what happens but remember that we don't police our own and we allow things to happen as part of our "it's not my problem" attitude.

More often than not these systems that are being created targeting those who screw with their hours because they are under a lot of pressure from their carriers to "get it done" and those who have no knowledge of how to actually manage their time coming out of school.

Now back to the thread subject, I would recommend to the OP that he/she takes a little time and get into a truck to see what the hours of service are like and what we need. once you have a basic understanding of that, then the interface and the backend programming would be easier to understand when things are described to you.