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Electronic On-Board Recorders

Recent Activity

On February 13, 2012, the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration (FMCSA) published a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (SNPRM) announcing its plan to proceed with the Electronic On-Board Recorders and Hours of Service Supporting Documents (EOBR 2) rulemaking. The objectives of the SNPRM are to determine and propose technical standards for an EOBR, address driver harassment issues, propose requirements for retaining hours-of-service (HOS) supporting documents, and provide clarification and request further comments on several of the aforementioned proposals. In order to collect the comprehensive data needed to support the SNPRM, FMCSA will hold public listening sessions; work with its Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee (MCSAC); and use driver, carrier, and vendor surveys to obtain all the stakeholder information needed to discuss issues involving driver harassment.

On Monday, August 29, 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled in favor of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association in its review of the FMCSA’s EOBR mandate. This ruling effectively vacates the final rule issued in April 2010 that required carriers demonstrating a 10 percent or greater violation rate for certain HOS regulations during a single compliance review to install EOBRs in all of their commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) and use them for two years. The compliance date for this rule would have been June 4, 2012.

Background

On Tuesday, February 1, 2011, FMCSA issued through the Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) which mandates EOBRs for all CMVs that operate in interstate commerce. The proposal would affect all motor carriers that currently use logbooks to comply with HOS regulations and provide relief from certain HOS supporting documents that verify driving time. This is the second major EOBR rulemaking issued by the FMCSA. The August 2011 appeals court decision (see Recent Activity) to vacate the April 2010 final rule will certainly have an impact on the timeline for finalizing this proposed rule.

TCA’s Board of Directors voted to adopt a policy supporting electronic logging devices (ELDs) in March 2011. The Board used the term "ELDs" instead of "EOBRs" to differentiate between devices used solely for HOS logging purposes (ELDs) and those that can track hard braking, acceleration, and other safety-critical events (EOBRs).

Additional Information

February 2012 SNPRM

• Federal Register
  

February 2011 NPRM

• Federal Register
• FMCSA Information
• TCA Comments

January 2007 NPRM

• Federal Register
• TCA Comments

Pending Legislation: S.695 – March 31, 2011

TCA Policy: Electronic Logging Devices

This page was last reviewed Friday, April 27, 2012