Orange County Computer Lawyer Blog

New FMCSA Rule Will Require Electronic Onboard Recorders for Trucking Companies Violating Hours of Service Rules

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration this week passed a rule that will allow the use of the results of a single compliance review to decide if trucking companies must install electronic onboard recorders.  The FMCSA’s new rule will go into effect on 1^st June 2012, and is likely to impact more than 5,700 trucking companies.

Under the new rule, a trucking company that violates trucker work hours more than 10% of the time during a single compliance review, must install these recorders on its trucks. Electronic onboard recorders monitor driver work hours, and prevent the driver from exceeding the hours of service rules that currently stand at 11 consecutive hours.

The rule also requires that electric onboard recorders be synchronized with the truck’s engine. The agency had toyed with the idea of having wireless GPS systems instead of synchronized systems, but then decided to go with synchronized systems because these ensure better accuracy in monitoring driver work hours.

The rule also sets standards for the functioning of the electronic onboard recorders. The recorder must automatically track the vehicle’s location at every change of duty, and must provide a digital record of all information that federal safety officials can access. This information must include the driver’s name, his duty status, sleeper berth, driving time as well as the location, date, time and distance traveled.

The agency had two options while deciding on the rule – it could either go with a single compliance review or a double compliance review to determine whether a truck company should get the recorders installed. By deciding to go with a single compliance review standard, the agency has sent a strong message that it intends to tackle the problem of driver fatigue very seriously indeed.

California truck accident lawyers had worried that any EOBR rule that came up would be lightweight, and minimize accuracy. However, the rule requires that onboard recorders be synchronized with the engine, so the data that is received will be extremely accurate.