DOT surveying truckers on personal vehicle commute times
FMCSA has announced intentions to survey drivers about the time they spend commuting in their personal vehicles, seeking to determine how often truckers’ commutes to their driving jobs exceed 2 and a half hours. The agency also says it intends to study the ramifications of “excessive commuting on safety and driver fatigue” after the survey’s completion.
The Year of the ELD: Top trucking trends from 2017 as ELD mandate descended
Coverage of the mandate and its myriad of twists and turns throughout dominated the news cycle in 2017. It also dominated Overdrive’s usual in-depth coverage of the industry. However, a few other key trends emerged too, including regulatory repeals by the Trump Administration, booming rates and the rise of the electric truck. More here…
A silver lining: Clean inspections on the rise
In Overdrive’s annual CSA’s Data Trail update, after a few years of decline in the totals overall, inspections increased by more than 4 percent. Fortunately for operators, those additional thousands of inspections can be attributed in part to an influx of inspections that contained no violation.
‘E-logs will cure everything, right?’
What they won’t cure, from hours violations incurred while passing full truck stop after full truck stop to overheated communication with inspectors to the sense of pride most longtime truckers take in their professional record. Also: ELD-specific enfo…
How to avoid need for bail money: Richard Miller’s comment of the week (about, well, what else?)
Who says truckers don’t have a sense of humor on the subject of the ELD mandate? … And: Crowd-sourcing state enforcement plans — we’ve heard from some states who won’t be writing ELD noncompliance tickets until April 1, just marking violations. If y…
FMCSA proposes altering personal conveyance guidelines as ELD mandate nears
The key change to the personal conveyance guidance is the removal of the requirement that trucks be unladen to be used for personal conveyance. FMCSA says the change is mostly meant to allow straight truck drivers the opportunity to use their truck, ev…
ELD compliance extension for ag/livestock haulers formally issued by FMCSA
FMCSA has officially issued a waiver giving drivers who haul livestock and ag loads until March 18 to switch from paper logs to ELDs. It’s also soon accepting comments on changes to hours of service exemptions offered to ag haulers.
More duct tape on a broken ax handle
“Anyone with a lick of sense knows it’s unsafe to duct-tape a broken ax handle. Those who don’t have that kind of sense work for the FMCSA.”
California wildfire prompts hours suspension, road closures
According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the fire has burned at least 65,000 acres as of 7 a.m. Pacific Wednesday. Mandatory evacuations are in place for the cities of Santa Paula and Ventura.
Dealing with hours violations beyond your control in ELDs
Recording hours with ELDs: State and federal law enforcement officials urge drivers to practice blunt honesty in special cases, using annotations on duty statuses and status changes to explain the situation in detail. In many cases, officer leniency co…