Spoke with rep at JJ Keller about E-Logs

They aren't tracking our every move. They want hos regs followed to the letter, and by using a device tired into the trucks ecm they go a long way towards accomplishing that.

I don't worry about this tracking thing cause they have the ability to do that already through cell phones.

 

Haha! Famous last words from an elogger who claims they are following HOS regs to a tee because they have an ELD installed on their truck. You are either just trolling on this deal or you're very naive about ELD's ensuring HOS compliance

You remind me of the guy on this forum who is obsessed with making sure you flag a pee trip at night into the truck stop and back into your truck. LOL

 

Dude, i didn't say it eliminated cheating. I said it was their approach to minimize cheating. Will it eliminate it? Of course not. But will it cut it down? Absolutely. Do i like elogs? Not really, but that's more to do with the current incarnation of the inflexible hos than the elog itself. Am i capable of adapting and thriving under any regulation they throw at us? You can count on it. I will always adapt and make very good money in this industry.

 

Yes, while you may look at ELD as still being able to be cheated, when you are at a shipper, or some other small ways (which I believe can be identified with an audit using the GPS records), the major logging violations they are trying to stop aren't the saving a few hours at a shipper, they are the guys running multiple logs, the guys driving as many hours as they want, the gaining hours a day by fudging after traffic delays and in-town work, and all the other ways you cheat currently.

Oh, and the ELD rules state the technical requirements, but they aren't even final yet, and the software side is still easy to add changes to, so you think you can cheat like that at a shipper?
How about when they tell the companies to start adding a flag if the GPS position changes during anything other than Line 3? Or a flag for low speed movement with the brake off for an extended period of time? So not automatically changing duty status, but just putting a flag up that something funny happened, and maybe it should be looked at.

Basically, it is in its infancy right now, and so even now various stakeholders are reading this forum and seeing what needs to be changed and looked for *waves at FMCSA and Swift*, and if they feel it is enough of a a safety issue, they will take action. And that is a minor change, not requiring any hardware change, just a few lines of code in the next software update.

And if you get one bad accident after someone gains extra hours at a shipper like that, after the security camera footage, and the warehouse Inventory Control Systems bar code scans, and the reefer temp logs, and the witness accounts all match, they will close such loopholes quite easily.

So don't ridicule a system that currently is not keeping close tabs on drivers in such situations, specifically for driver privacy, because when someone gets hurt, they will strip that privacy away so fast, it will make your head spin.

Oh, and as it is, companies can already require logging to a level that would prevent such cheats, just FMCSA doesn't. Yet.

So tread carefully, so you aren't the one who brings it on us!

 

I'll bet you that on percentage, the MAJORITY of trucking accident incidents in this country involve drivers on ELOGS. That's an aside though.

The FMCSA already knows all the tricks to the trade, they don't need to glean insight off of a forum like this.

Besides, it's really not about safety anyways.

Let's talk a little about the spirit and intent of compliance regs as required, and what they look like in reality, shall we?

Let's say I stop at a casino truck stop to take my 10 hour break and I go off duty. Exit the truck and enter the casino to have some fun.

I start gambling and get on a roll. For the first 6 hours of my roll I consume a couple of free alcoholic drinks and street tacos.

I stop drinking at the 6th hour but continue to gamble for the next 4 hours until I run out of money. After which I get back in my truck and start a new driving day with a fresh 11 and 14 hour clock.

Am I am compliant?

Of course, within the letter of the law I'm compliant.

But by god, you better be able to produce a paper copy of a log if you're using a logging app on an electronic device that isn't directly connected to your truck ECM.

 

And if you get in a bad wreck, they will find out you spent your 10 playing, and you will still be charged with unsafe driving.

Since most HOS violations are for the purpose of making more money, that involves driving, so while yes, someone can waste their break playing Xbox, or gambling, that is not the biggest fish they are after.

 

Very True .....

Folks, Read this Post by Scooter......

You drivers are always making a mountain out of a molehill, Acting Like Logs are an act of God and is more important than your lives.

Scooter is right 99.9% of the DOT aren't interested in your Printed Logs...Trust me, They would RATHER just peak at a conventional log book- They don't want the Hassles of all this either.

So To the drivers that are always Looking for Drama ......Stop it!!! Relax,Drive your Truck,Pay your Bills, And Live your Life without issue.

 

What if they find out you were inside your sleeper berth playing Madden Football all night?

Would that count?

And could the FMCSA & Lawyers go after the company for installing an inverter in the truck which gave the opportunity to the driver to pretend he was Tom Brady all night without sleeping? LOL.

Good God, man, where do you stop with your fear mongering?

 

Yep, I've never had an officer request paper copies of my jjkeller log, I've offered to email them and wad always told, 'thats not necessary just show me that you know how to use it'.

However, it was quite frequent for them to want to see the last 7 days of the guys that were running the eclipse program. For those not familiar, eclipse was(maybe still is?) a electronic logging tool that ran on your laptop, not tied to the truck at all. You were supposed to print them off every night and sign them. Missouri was hitting or guys hard on this a couple years back.

 

It isn't fear-mongering, it is pointing out the reality that when we do things that endanger the lives of others (not being rested when we drive), even if the logs are true, accurate and legal, we are not off the hook legally.

You were trying to say how it is stupid to enforce the loging rules more strictly, because people can still do other things that are worse, and I was reminding you that they will still be enforced against, because there are other laws that cover it.

And if I was an inspector, and I found you were using eLogs, without bothering to be able to print them, I would naturally wonder what else you were cutting corners on, what other laws you were choosing to ignore to save a buck and a little hassle.