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Omnitracs Road Ahead
Can Your Vehicle Beat the Odds?
Did you know that during the 2012 Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) Brake Safety Week, more than 3,000 trucks were placed out-of-service for brake-related violations--that's more than one out of every seven vehicles. How would brake related out-of-service violations impact your business if one in seven of your vehicle were placed out-of-service? The impacts could include...
![Qualcomm Webinar - "From the Desk of Dave Kraft: Update on the Upcoming EOBR Mandate and its Impact"](http://www.omnitracs.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog_square_image_thumb/DaveKraftWebinar_121.jpg "Qualcomm Webinar - "From the Desk of Dave Kraft: Update on the Upcoming EOBR Mandate and its Impact"")
Qualcomm Webinar - "From the Desk of Dave Kraft: Update on the Upcoming EOBR Mandate and its Impact"
As you may know, Congress recently passed the federal highway bill, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act ("MAP-21”), that included a mandate for EOBRs. On August 15, I had the pleasure of hosting a live webinar to share information on the bill's timeline, scope, implementation, and impact and benefits to carriers and drivers, as well as the future of EOBRs. I invite you to view the recording of the webinar to learn more about the details of the mandate and to get your questions answered. If prompted, you may need to complete a registration form before accessing the recording.
An Interview with Annette Sandberg: EOBR Mandate
During Vision 2012, we sat down with Annette Sandberg, former FMCSA administrator and CEO & principal of TranSafe Consulting (double-check titles) to get her perspective on the EOBR mandate. Take a look at the video to hear what she told us about:
7 Myths of Electronic On-Board Recorders
The use of electronic on-board recorders (EOBRs) has grown significantly in the past few years. They have proven to be very effective tools for hours of service (HOS) compliance management. Carriers using EOBRs have realized superior ratings for HOS compliance in the Compliance Safety Accountability (CSA) program’s safety measure system. There are, however, some naysayers and skeptics that based on misperceptions have argued against the use of EOBRs. The actual experience of the industry, though, suggests that these are just “EOBR myths” and looking at EOBR related facts and industry’s experience (outlined below) clearly demonstrate the usefulness of these systems.
EOBRs- Some of the Basics
Electronic on-board recorders (EOBRs) for driver logs are now widely used by carriers and their drivers, delivering excellent compliance results. These systems’ designs have advanced to provide an easier user experience with effective controls that record and report driver hours of service (HOS) compliance. Not familiar with EOBRs? No worries! I’ve outlined below some of the basics of how this is being accomplished to help answer a few questions you may have.
Electronic On-Board Recorders (EOBRs) - What's Next?
In August 2011, the Seventh Circuit court vacated the EOBR 395.16 rulemaking based on a determination that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) had not adequately addressed the potential for driver harassment with the new guidelines. FMCSA later indicated that it would redo the EOBR rulemaking and not appeal the judge’s decision. Since FMCSA’s proposed EOBR mandate rulemaking depended on the 395.16 rule for technical guidelines, it appears that the mandate will also be delayed. So what is next, and when?
The Mandate for Electronic On-Board Recorders
On September 29, 2010, Senators Mark Pryor (D-AR) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) introduced legislation, Senate Bill S.3884, that would require the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to issue a mandate for motor carriers to use electronic on-board recorders (EOBRs) to log truck driver hours electronically. This bill is being advocated by a coalition of motor carriers and others that believe transportation logistics will result in improved safety performance through fewer driver fatigue-related accidents. The mandate will ensure all motor carriers and drivers follow the same rules.
ELDs and EOBRs - What's the Difference?
Part of the fun of technology is getting a new vocabulary of acronyms. The latest for automated driver logs is ELDs – or electronic logging devices. According to some reports, ELDs are not only better than Electronic On-board Recorders (EOBRs), but they cost less. That’s progress! This does raise a question, though: Where do these terms come from? I did some research, and the number of terms that may also apply to ELD and EOBR type devices is more than you might expect.
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