Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/466315
64 COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | FEBRUARY 2015 E lectronic logging devices soon will become the new standard for all 3.4 million commercial drivers required by law to keep a record-of-duty status. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration plans to issue a ruling by Sept. 30 to mandate their use. In 2010, the agency published the original mandate, only to have it vacated by a federal court on the basis that fleet managers might use the technology – called electronic onboard recorders in the rule – to micromanage or "harass" drivers. FMCSA addressed this and other issues in March 2014 with a new ELD rule proposal. Once the agency publish- es the final version, enforcement of the mandate will begin two years later. During that two-year timeframe, all ELDs on the market will need to be updated from the current rule for automatic onboard recording devices. Suppliers expect that the new ELD standard will require them only to make software updates that can be pushed out to devices instantly. But rewriting the software code could take more than 12 months to complete. That delay will compress the timeta- ble for fleets that have yet to implement ELDs, but only if they wait until after the final rule is published – presumably in late September – to get started. How- ever, those that implement compliant devices before the final ELD rule will get an extra two years to meet the com- pliance deadline – by late 2019 at the earliest. Since it appears safe to assume that any ELD purchased today will be up- dated to meet the new standard, does it really matter which product that you use? If compliance is the only consider- ation, perhaps not. But if the goal is to maximize return on investment, then the differences matter. Consider these five criteria for evaluating ELDs. Adaptability All companies that supply electronic logging software have experience in updating their products in response to rule changes. A new hours-of-service Electronic logging devices are coming. Will the benefits outweigh the costs? BY AARON HUFF Rand McNally's IntelliRoute TND 730 navigation device can be paired via Bluetooth to its HD 100 device that connects to the vehicle's data port for a fully compliant ELD.