“Soft enforcement” of ELD mandate for commercial drivers gets underway

Effective December 18, 2017, the “soft enforcement” period for the electronic logging device (ELD) mandate begins as US roadside enforcement personnel start documenting violations of the rule, according to the Commercial Vehicle Safety Administration (CVSA).

“At a jurisdiction’s discretion, they may issue citations to commercial motor vehicle drivers operating vehicles without a compliant ELD,” according to a statement from Collin Mooney, CVSA executive director.

“Enforcement personnel have been trained in anticipation of the ELD rule and now that it is in effect, inspectors will be verifying hours-of-service compliance by reviewing records of duty status requirements electronically,” he said. “On April 1, 2018, inspectors will start placing commercial motor vehicle drivers out of service if their vehicle is not equipped with the required ELD.”

CVSA also said fleets and drivers may continue using “grandfathered” automatic onboard recording devices (AOBRD) that meet the requirements of 49 CFR 395.15 until Dec 16, 2019, when they, too, must switch over the ELDs.

CarrierLists has been polling fleets for several months on ELD preparations ahead of the mandate. As of early December, about 75% fleets said they were ELD ready, up from around 50% in October.

Kevin Hill, founder of CarrierLists, said it is no surprise to see the sharp increase ahead of the deadline, but the last-minute push will likely lead to initial confusion due to a lack of training and practice time.

Overall, ELD rates among regional haulers lagged other fleets, with tank and bulk carriers ranking the least compliant, according to the company’s data Reefer carriers were most compliant at about 90%, while dry van carriers were second with 75%.