LoadTrek 101, Lesson 6: Viewing, Managing, and Editing Logs. April 28 at 1300 CDT

LoadTrek U 101, Lesson 5: Tracking, Messaging, and Monitoring. April 26 at 1300 CDT.

LoadTrek U 101, Lesson 4 - Route Creation and Editing; April 21 at 1300 CDT

Former FMCSA Chief Speaks out on HOS, EOBRs - Truckinginfo.com

Former FMCSA Chief Speaks out on HOS, EOBRs - Truckinginfo.com

Finding a Good EOBR

The ATA, TCA, NPTC, CVSA, and other industry groups are all endorsing EOBR's - electronic onboard recorders. It's not because their member businesses like to spend money and invite additional government oversight. It's because they know that the other functions of most (not all) EOBR's provide measurable time and money benefits.

When considering technology for your fleet, remember this quote by John Ruskin, the 19th century critic: " "There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price alone are that person's lawful prey."

I am not defending high prices, but I am advocating high value and quality. How is the system you're considering going to serve you 5 years from now?

LoadTrek U 101, Lesson 3: Adding and Editing Loads. April 19, 1300 CDT

LoadTrek U Class 101, Lesson 2: April 14 at 1300 CDT

The second lesson covers setup items; Types, Drivers, Equipment, and Locations.

LoadTrek U 101 is open to all LoadTrek.net customers.

LoadTrek U Announces 101 Class Schedule

LoadTrek.net announces the spring Loadtrek U class schedule for LoadTrek users. These remote, web based classes are included in your subscription. Contact us to sign up.

Date Time Topic

4/12/2011 13:00 Central Lesson 1 – System Overview, Installation, Terminology, Setup

4/14/2011 13:00 Central Lesson 2 – Types, Customers, Drivers, Equipment, Locations

4/19/2011 13:00 Central Lesson 3 – Load Plane, Tree Options, Load Creation and Edit

4/21/2011 13:00 Central Lesson 4 – Route Plane: Route Creation and Edit

4/26/2011 13:00 Central Lesson 5 – Route Plane: Tracking, Messaging, Monitoring

4/28/2011 13:00 Central Lesson 6 – DOT Information, View, Edit

5/3/2011 13:00 Central Lesson 7 – Billing Plane, Rates

5/5/2011 13:00 Central Lesson 8 – Timesheet / Payroll

5/10/2011 13:00 Central Lesson 9 – Static Load Plane, Static Load Creation

5/12/2011 13:00 Central Lesson 10 – Driver Rotations

5/17/2011 13:00 Central Lesson 11 – Fuel Tickets, IFTA Report

5/24/2011 13:00 Central Lesson 12 – Reports, Dataviews

5/26/2011 13:00 Central Lesson 13 – Analysis Plane

5/31/2011 13:00 Central Lesson 14 – Maintenance Plane

LoadTrek 101 Webinar Tomorrow

LoadTrek.net Customers, Sign up Today for LoadTrek 101, Lesson 1:

4/12/2011 13:00 Central

Lesson 1 – System Overview, Installation, Terminology, Setup

ATA Endorses Electronic Logs to Check Driver Hours of Service

Transport Topics; week of April 11, 2011, issue

HEADLINE: ATA Endorses Electronic Logs to Check Driver Hours of Service

Eric Miller, Staff Reporter

American Trucking Associations last week endorsed a federal proposal that trucking companies use electronic logging devices to monitor driver compliance with the hours-of-service rule.

In an April 7 statement, ATA said it supported both legislation requiring the electronic logging equipment and a rule proposed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

“ATA has always been in favor of strong enforcement of safety rules and regulations. This new policy just underlines that support,” Bill Graves, ATA president and chief executive officer, said April 7.

ATA thus joins the Truckload Carriers Association and the Alliance for Driver Safety and Security in supporting the new federal initiative.

TCA’s board of directors voted to endorse electronic logging devices (ELDs) at its convention March 13, and in a March 31 statement, the Alliance for Driver Safety and Security said it supported the Senate bill.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has opposed the federal electronic onboard recorder (EOBR) mandate.

“What makes me feel good is that the trucking associations — TCA and ATA — are gravitating to positions of support for ELDs,” said Steve Williams, CEO of Maverick USA Inc., North Little Rock, Ark.

Williams, who chairs the Alliance, said April 7, “I think we must be doing something that makes sense to a broad swath of interests.” Alliance members include Schneider National, Maverick USA, J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Knight Transportation and U.S. Xpress Enterprises, carriers that already have installed EOBRs on many of their trucks.

“Electronic onboard records are the logical step in the pursuit of safe highways,” Williams said in a March 31 statement.

ATA said it backed requiring the devices, provided they are “cost-effective,” protect the privacy of fleet and driver data and relieve fleets of the obligation to retain paperwork supporting driver HOS reports.

The Commercial Driver Compliance Improvement Act, introduced March 31 by Sens. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), would require all interstate trucks to use EOBRs for HOS compliance within 18 months after passage.

The Senate bill, a new version of legislation introduced last year, would create consistent standards for the devices, including requirements that they be tamper-resistant and capable of communicating with the truck engine’s control module.

“The Alliance is certainly pleased that Sens. Pryor and Alexander have reintroduced the legislation,” Williams said.

“The bill includes some important provisions relating to device design and performance specifications,” said Rob Abbott, ATA’s vice president of safety policy. “However, ATA will advocate for some needed improvements in the legislation.”

“Specifically, the bill does not offer any provisions for data protection, nor does it address supporting documentation requirements for carriers that install or use the devices,” Abbott said.

While ELD is a term often used interchangeably in the industry with EOBRs, an ELD is technically a device that is capable of recording HOS compliance data and does not necessarily include all of the additional functionality often found in EOBRs, Abbott said.

The Pryor-Alexander bill broadly follows a more detailed proposed rule that FMCSA issued Jan. 31 that would require EOBRs for an estimated 500,000 U.S. interstate carriers.

Abbott said ATA also “generally supports” the proposed FMCSA rule, but “has concerns with certain elements of it.”

Dave Osiecki, ATA’s senior vice president of policy and regulatory affairs, said, “Many fleets already use these devices, and they report not only compliance and safety gains, but also improved efficiency.”

The FMCSA proposal calls for interstate carriers that currently use record of duty status logbooks to document drivers’ HOS to install EOBRs to “systematically and effectively” monitor their drivers’ compliance with HOS requirements. Shorthaul interstate carriers that use timecards to document drivers’ hours would be exempt from the requirement.

While motor carriers subject to the proposed EOBR requirements would still need to retain some supporting documents, they would be relieved of the requirements to retain documents to verify driving time, the agency said.

Carriers that violate the EOBR requirement would face civil penalties of up to $11,000 for each offense. Noncompliance also would have a negative effect on a carrier’s safety fitness rating and Department of Transportation operating authority, FMCSA officials said.

The agency said it expected to have a final rule in place by June 2012, but that motor carriers would be given three years after the effective date of the final rule to comply.

FMCSA said the cost of purchasing and installing EOBRs would range from $1,500 to $2,000 per truck and would cost several hundred dollars annually for service fees. Carriers still would be required to retain HOS records for six months.

In a March 31 statement opposing the Senate EOBR bill, Todd Spencer, OOIDA executive vice president, said, “EOBRs are nothing more than overpriced record keepers lobbied by big business trucking companies to wipe out small-business competition.”