Question about EOBR's

I didnt know OOIDA was fighting elogs, i thought they were being the government yes man on this... In any case, someone should fight this, just show me where to join.

 

Just a minute...... any carrier can legally add the off duty /driving option to the EOBR. It's for bobtail movements to the house, laundry, repair shop etc. It also has mileage limits but using this, he can move to the shop.

It's legal and your covered under your bobtail policy....as long as your not generating revenue and of course, for L/O's only.

 

Have a copy of all my ELOGS download them everyweek to my email

 

And thats true but, how many actually have a L5 that they allow the driver to use. I try to run pretty much legal and really have no problem with elogs AS LONG AS THE COMPANY USES COMMEN SENSE WITH THEM!!! If I'm at a meat plant, and I'm doing a reset, and I'm bob tailing, would sure like the opportunity to do laundry, shop, eat out, and heck.... to see a movie or something.

 

Of course they can be manipulated... but it depends on the management controls placed on access to that part of the system. Obviously in the Knight case, someone fairly high up went in and tampered with records that are considered evidence in this case. Now that's a crime, and if they can trace who did it and find the goods on them they'll be in a courtroom for that.

At my carrier, the logs department are the only folks with access to and who are authorized to manipulate log records. If you screw something up, you can call logs and ask them to fix it... for example, if your truck is in the shop and a mechanic takes it for a test drive, they will go ahead and fix that. If you tell them to just pull the 4 hours you spent on the road and replace it with off-duty time, they'll tell you to jump in the lake. Dispatch and our operational management don't have access to the database editor - and that's really important.

Now none of that says that the system can't be abused - but as in Knight's case, that is tampering with official records. My understanding is that they can't change the GPS location tags in the company-level editor, so in a compliance audit monkeying around with the log database is going to show up.

Yup... and if anything starts looking funky in a compliance audit, matching the company-level records with the data stored on QualComm's mainframe will be the smoking gun.

The same function that allows one to fax the log data to a DOT officer can be used to fax yourself a copy.

Personal, non-business use only. Taking the truck to the repair shop, running from home to grab a trailer, etc., while may not be "making you money" is a "business purpose." If you really look at the reg - and especially the guidance you'll see that this would not be considered personal conveyance.

It's hazy enough that a cop could say you're right here, its also not definite. No where in the reg does it say for L/O's only - that's a rather restrictive definition. My carrier allows company drivers to use line 5 - off-duty driving - just the same way that they allow the lease and owner operators to use it. So without starting a big fight about it, we've had two compliance audits by the FMCSA since going to elogs and they don't have a problem with company drivers using line 5.

 

Why can't you? I have been on EOBR in my truck since December and hasn't stopped anything about what you mentioned. I just go to "off duty - driving" option in the EOBR and go do what I need to. Yep, just like with paper logs, this is legal per FMCSA. I am doing no work for the carrier, it is my truck, so if I want to go running off somewhere, it is my business. No where is it mandatory you show any sleeper berth time in the 34 reset you mentioned. Theoretically, I could be up the whole time, off duty, and driving around in my truck to my heart's content.... and be technically LEGAL. Might raise a few eyebrows if checked, but it is still technically legal. Company drivers may not be able to do this, but then, those drivers have no "skin in the game" regarding the equipment, insurance, liability, etc. so the carrier can dictate when and where the truck moves.

Sure the EOBR will track where the truck goes, but who cares? What I am doing is legal. If I want to drive it somewhere and get new tires put on, or whatever, I can. I am not doing the tires or maintenance at that time, so I do not have to log any of it. I can take the truck to the shop, drop it off, and while they are doing their thing, I go grab a bite to eat or just take a walk. No big deal. Still not required to log it. Technically, it is a "business purpose" as was stated a couple of posts ago, but "I just went to go get a bite to eat". Just so happened, I left the truck where the tire folks could do their thing at the same time. Technically, also, if I was turning the wrench I would have to log on duty. I guess that is the only "cheating" that I am doing with EOBR. I do my own oil changes, lubes, and minor repairs at home and I don't log any of it. But then, I didn't ever log any of it with paper logs either.

Those that make such rediculous comments like, "why don't they just put an ankle monitor on us to track us", have no experience with EOBR to find out if they are such the evil ogre that is being made out. With EOBR, for March I had the highest NET income that I have had in the last 3 years. Even on paper logs. Look, do like I did, give it a whirl. If I would have found that it was going to mess my profits up, then I could have easily pulled my truck and went elsewhere. But, at least, I had to give it a try just to see if all the "sky is falling" fears out there were warranted.

I am sure the EOBR thing with scare a lot of drivers out of trucking. Unfounded, but probably true. Oh well. I have been seeing a lot of "help wanted" signs up at McDonald's lately.

 

Eobr and elogs are terms that are used interchangeably. there is no difference in the fact that big brother will be in the cab of the truck with you. It is all BS. FMCSA and "Ray the hood" need to be class action sued, but it is probably not possible. Too bad.

 

I have a news flash for you.... big brother has been in the cab with you for quite a while. You can be watched by the transactions you make on the road, tracked via your cell phone, and any engine with a ECM on it will let brother know just about everything regarding how you were driving. They can even get the same info from just about any automobile made.

So... unless you never use a credit/debit card, do not own a cell phone, and only have an engine made prior to the early 90's, and never make any purchases with your name on them, then you have the potential to being tracked any time uncle sugar wants. Oh, almost forgot, they can also track you by the little reader strip embedded in paper money. Just hold any bill up to a light and you can see it. Yep, it can be tracked via scanners along roadsides, at toll booths, etc. I saw first hand a demonstration one time where a scanner placed at a toll booth could tell how much paper money each individual was carrying in each auto that came thru the booth by detecting the scanner strip in each bill. The claim being made at the time for doing this was to see who might be dope dealing and handling large sums of cash.

Anyone who actually believes that EOBR is the big thing that will have big brother looking over their shoulder, really needs to get into the 21st century. EOBR really doesn't add much to what they already can do.

 

so we should just lay down and let the government continue to infringe on our rights, while some drivers may want the eobr, some won't. Maybe it will be an ok thing, but it should be up to the company, not the government. All I am saying is keep the government out of a company matter.