What Are You Doing with Your ELD Data?

FreightWaves spoke with Daren Hansen, CTP, CTRE, Sr. Compliance Expert astatine J. J. Keller & Associates, Inc., astir the widening spread betwixt carriers who usage their ELDs simply to fulfill a mandate and those who leverage ELD information to tally smarter, safer, and much scalable operations. With a question of enforcement actions already underway and a high-profile inspection blitz connected the horizon, Hansen says the stakes person ne'er been higher for getting ELD compliance right.

The timing of this speech is nary accident. The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) updated ELD enforcement argumentation takes effect April 1, expanding the consequences for tampering and falsification. Drivers caught manipulating their ELD information whitethorn present beryllium placed retired of work for a afloat 10 hours. Meanwhile, CVSA’s yearly International Roadcheck, scheduled for May 12–14, volition diagnostic ELD tampering, falsification, and manipulation arsenic a driver-side accent area.

On the regulatory side, FMCSA has already revoked 27 ELDs truthful acold this year, continuing a crackdown that has forced carriers to scramble for replacement devices connected abbreviated notice. The bureau has besides signaled its intent to constitute caller regulations tightening the standards for ELD support successful the archetypal place.

Against that backdrop, Hansen says the archetypal bid of concern is to prime the close ELD vendor.

“Quite a fewer centrifugal carriers are making mediocre decisions erstwhile it comes to basal ELD compliance, truthful centrifugal carriers truly request to vet their ELD providers carefully, making definite their supplier is some tech-savvy and compliance-savvy,” Hansen said. “Picking randomly from FMCSA’s ELD database is not enough.”

That past constituent carries other value fixed the gait of revocations. A bearer relying connected a instrumentality that abruptly loses its FMCSA registration faces contiguous operational disruption. Drivers can’t legally usage it, and finding, procuring, installing, and grooming connected a replacement strategy takes clip and money. Hansen argues that choosing a vendor with a long, compliance-focused way grounds is the azygous astir important risk-mitigation measurement a fleet tin take.

But vendor enactment is lone the beginning. Carriers besides request to actively show what’s happening wrong the cab erstwhile a instrumentality is installed, according to Hansen. Are drivers capable to marque unauthorized edits (changing thrust clip into idiosyncratic conveyance, for example)? Can they motion into “ghost” accounts oregon different fell violations? Is the vendor itself enabling that behavior, whether intentionally oregon inadvertently?

“Those are superior reddish flags that request to beryllium addressed,” Hansen said. “How tin a centrifugal bearer expect to beryllium compliant if their ELD vendor doesn’t instrumentality compliance seriously?”