Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/858523
44 commercial carrier journal | august 2017 Presenting logs at roadside Running with an electronic logging device is one thing. Communicating e-log data to an inspector is quite another. With four months to go, states' data transfer plans vary widely, and an ambitious federal program remains untested. BY TODD DILLS O ne of the less publicized but highly critical aspects of the electronic logging device mandate involves a new platform that will transfer ELD data from roadside to a central federal system. e electronic record of duty status data platform is supposed to be working by Dec. 18. On that date, inspectors from state Departments of Transportation and police departments will be required to begin enforcing the ELD mandate's requirement for most drivers to use an ELD. ey're also supposed to interpret whether an ELD indicates a potential hours-of-service violation, which in many cases will not be as simple as it sounds. One thing has been made clear, however, by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration: Come Dec. 18, running without an ELD if you're not exempt will net you eight hours out of service at roadside. FMCSA spokesman Duane DeBruyne didn't directly answer a question about whether he suspected most states would have their inspectors up to speed on access points to a planned cen- tral federal system for ELD data transfer and analysis, or even whether the technology to facilitate the system at the state level would be in place. "FMCSA is planning to have data transfer capability ready by December of 2017. If data transfer is unavailable, the printout or display options [one of which is required of all ELDs] will be used to enforce hours of service." A variety of factors suggest those print/display backup methods will be important in most log checks. e agency soon was expected to deliver elements of its planned data-transfer protocol to ELD vendors to test against, among the first steps toward rollout of the new eRODS program to states. With the electronic data transfer system, FMCSA in some ways is central- izing hours enforcement in a federal system for most methods of data transfer. e agency has contracted a third party to develop soware housed in the federal system to analyze logs sent from the field through its central system for possible violations. State inspec- tors theoretically then would investigate any flagged potential violations. Many states, however, currently aren't anywhere near 100 percent sure what that piece will look like – or how exactly they would interact with it. e ELD mandate specified two types of devices, each type required to support at least two data-transfer methods. For local-transfer devices, Bluetooth and USB 2.0 are the required methods. For telematics-type devices – most of the ELDs on the market today, with an internet connection – the ability to upload and email hours data is required. FMCSA hoped states would support at least one method from each pair at the roadside, thus accommodating any device. As a backup, the rule likewise required every ELD to either include a printing capability or display current and previ- ous-seven-days hours information with a graph grid analogous to today's paper logbooks. "We have not determined the primary data transfer method we will support," says Fran Clader of the California Highway Patrol's communications office. Like FMCSA, though, Clader remained confident that state roadside personnel would be ready by December. Another 15 states either were unsure or, for different reasons, didn't plan on supporting a local-transfer option. While in Indiana, "each inspector has his/her own laptop computer and secure email account and can send and receive emails," says State Police Maj. Jon Smithers. "We won't use USB devices. Our state security rules prevent us from using USB devices that have been in contact with an outside device." Smithers didn't totally rule out Bluetooth for a local- transfer option, but other states in similar situations relative to USB have done so. Michigan, for instance: "Currently, the State of Michigan IT policy prohibits the attachment of any unauthorized equipment to an IT resource," says State Police Sgt. Joseph Austin. SPECIAL REPORT: ELECTRONIC LOGGING DEVICES The ELD mandate specified two types of devices, each capable of at least two methods of transferring data to an inspector.