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“SkyBitz Local Fleets E-logs,” he added, “monitor exactly how much
time your drivers spend on jobs. In addition to making sure you’re
not violating HOS, you’ll be able to improve your scheduling by ensuring
no one is underutilized and no one is over-scheduled. Complying
with HOS regulations is way easier when you can improve your
scheduling and make the most of the hours your fleet is allowed to
spend on the road.”
David Palle, Omnitracs vice president of product management, said
Omnitracs’ new software update, Roadnet Anywhere v4.5, provides
Fleet Overview, “a brand-new feature that allows managers to even
more easily track the status and performance of their entire fleet in
real time. Fleet Overview provides a better singular management
area for vehicles that have a route plan, or do not have a plan at all.
By utilizing Fleet Overview, managers can ensure that their team
stays on schedule, ensuring timely deliveries and that the best route
options are utilized, ultimately increasing revenue and customer service
levels for the company.”
Speaking about data generated by these products, Heller said,
“Here’s the thing — you’ve got a compliance-review officer who
walks into a focused audit [of a carrier]. They’ll say, ‘I want to see
Hours of Service records for drivers 1-2-3-4-5’ because right now
he’s just looking at HOS to make sure they’re compliant.
“And eventually, as everybody starts adopting ELDs, what he’s
going to start noticing is that latitude and longitude is the same”
for where drivers are being detained unreasonable amounts of
time. It’s the same at the neighbors down the street and at their
neighbors down the street. He’s going to go, ‘Where the heck is
this latitude and longitude, because it keeps popping up on every
single one of these driver’s HOS electronic reports as being
detained.’ And they’re going to look, and they’re going to see it’s
this shipper.”
But will FMCSA do that and who’s going to make them do it?
At some point, Heller said, Congress may give FMCSA the authority
to use the data for something other than tracking HOS compliance.
Or, he pointed out, the agency may already have that authority.
“They have policing power over carriers, brokers, shippers, and
freight forwarders to get on them for coercion. Isn’t this kind of
the same thing? If a shipper forces a driver off its property,” even if
they’re out of hours, “isn’t that coercion?”
Do the right thing
“It will get to the point that we as an industry have
to hold their feet to the fire,” Heller said. We took ELDs
under advisement. A lot of our members have had them
in their trucks for years, which was the reason why we developed
that grandfather clause.
“I remember the meeting in which we changed policies. We
stopped calling them EOBRs (electronic onboard recorders) and
started calling them ELDs and supporting ELDs. We’ve done our part
and we’ve got the battle scars to prove it. Now, at this point in time,
with this explosion of data that we’re about to see, we expect the
agency to have our backs on the same thing. They have to make the
decision to do what’s right. And now we’ve got data to say what
we’ve been saying anecdotally all along.”
Although FMCSA now says they will “purge” non HOS-related data,
they may not do that in the future, Heller said, adding that the other
data’s too important for trucking to give up the fight.
“This is the beginning of the battle, not the end of the war. This is
just the opening salvo. Just because they believe right now they can’t
do anything with the [non HOS] data” doesn’t mean that will ultimately
be the case, he said.
“Some of these things need to be addressed,” he added. “If we
could get professional drivers [more time] to drive, what do you
think that’s worth?
“This is going to become the next big issue, this data explosion. The
agency wanted ELDs; now that they’re here they have to be prepared
to deal with this.”
TCA 2017 www.Truckload.org | Truckload Authority