Commercial motor vehicle drivers share the road with millions of others, including motorized and non-motorized personal vehicles.
Although studies have shown that commercial vehicles have a much lower crash rate than light vehicles, they contribute to a higher fatal crash involvement rate due to the greater forces at play during an event.
Fatigue is a major contributor to fatal crashes. Jurisdictions – at the state and federal levels - enforce prescriptive hours of service (HOS) regulations to reduce driver fatigue and ensure that commercial drivers have adequate time to obtain rest by limiting the number of hours per day and week a driver can drive and work.
Several agencies and industry stakeholders have recently recognized that electronic methods of recording driver’s HOS information have the potential to generate significant safety and productivity benefits.
HOS violations and falsification have been a prominent issue with paper-based logbooks. The introduction of electronic HOS recording systems supports the establishment of a baseline, or rather, level playing field, for the industry and improves compliance with the HOS regulations.
Further, access to more reliable work and rest data in electronic form has the potential to assist drivers and fleets to easily and proactively manage fatigue and driver safety, and address some of the inefficiencies with current paper-based administrative processes.
EROAD has developed an easy-to-use electronic HOS solution on the reliable secure platform that provides fleet managers and drivers the ability to proactively manage the HOS compliance and ensure safe driving outcomes.
Our solution has been designed to be flexible and capable of supporting different jurisdictional HOS rule sets and technical requirements.
In 2014, the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) granted the approval of EROAD’s Electronic Logbook application and system as an alternative means of recording and monitoring driver’s work time in New Zealand.
EROAD’s Electronic Logbook helps to eliminate paper work and lower risk of accidental non-compliance with work and rest time rules by alerting drivers when they are due for a rest break. With real-time access to driver’s logbook information on a web-based platform, carriers can also proactively manage fatigue and prevent work time rule violations. EROAD customers voluntarily choose to use the Electronic Logbook as part of improving efficiency and health and safety outcomes for their fleet.
In December 2015, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) published its Final Rule mandating carriers and drivers currently using paper record of duty status (RODS) to adopt electronic logging devices (ELDs).
Drivers must transition to using compliant ELDs by December 18, 2017 unless they have automatic on-board recording devices (AOBRDs) that are grandfathered under this rule. This means that drivers using AOBRDs must also transition to using compliant ELDs, but they will have an additional two years, until 2019, to do so.
The Final Rule sets out details of the technical standards and functional specifications for an ELD to be considered compliant and eligible for self-certification and registration on the FMCSA website. It is incumbent upon the carriers to conduct due diligence on an ELD provider to ensure that their solution remains compliant because there is a risk of non-compliance with regulations if the ELD solution malfunctions or is removed from the registry, which can leave the fleet running without a solution.
EROAD has self-certified and registered a robust ELD solution that meets the technical specifications outlined by FMCSA in the ELD mandate. Working with PIT Group, an expert telematics and technology testing firm, EROAD is the first ELD provider to have completed an independent testing and verification of its ELD solution. This process involved bench testing and live operational testing to ensure that the technical ELD specifications alongside the operational requirements of fleets were satisfied.
EROAD ELD sets the standard for quality. EROAD works closely with the FMCSA and the national enforcement community through the partnership with Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) to educate and train enforcement and other industry stakeholders to understand ELD technology and capability.
Since December 2015, Canada has been reviewing and analyzing FMCSA’s ELD mandate and technical requirements in the US to propose the Canadian ELD Standards. Led by the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators (CCMTA), an ELD working group has been formed to receive and incorporate the comprehensive feedback from all industry partners and stakeholders. It is expected that the Final ELD Standard will be adopted in late 2017/early 2018 and implemented by the industry in 2019; there will be a grandfathering period similar to the US for adoption of legacy electronic solutions by 2021.
EROAD is an associate member of the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) and part of the Team Canada Elite consortium, actively contributing to the policy discussions that aim to influence the finalization of the Canadian ELD Standards to reflect the industry operational practices and technical capabilities.
With proven capability in our development of an ELD in the US, that meets the FMCSA requirements and has been independently verified, EROAD is well placed to deliver a solution that satisfies the Canadian ELD Standards once finalized for carriers that travel to or within Canada.
The Australian National Heavy Vehicle Law (NHVL) has been adopted by most states and territories in Australia since the law was enacted in Queensland in 2012. The NHVL is largely administered through the powers provided to the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR). Western Australia and the Northern Territory have not adopted the law and retain their own systems.
Included in the legislation is the management of driver fatigue. This encompasses the recording of driving hours using electronic recording systems that will need to be approved by the NHVR. The legislation contains some detail of the requirements for electronic work diaries (EWD) and it is understood that the NHVR is considering the framework to be enacted for EWD approval and industry adoption; to date no electronic systems have been approved.
EROAD has an approved electronic work diary solution in New Zealand, and a third party certified Electronic Logging Device registered in the US. As such, it is well positioned not only to provide input into the NHVR framework formulation, but also to guide and provide a workable solution to meet the Australian market requirements. EROAD recently hosted the NVHR at our global offices in New Zealand to illustrate and provide understanding of the EROAD journey and the operational view of our US ELD.
EROAD will continue to monitor and support the development of the Australian requirements and is ready to provide easy to operate, intuitive solutions, along with best practices, for the Australian transportation industry.
