The electronic logging device (ELD) mandate is one of several regulations for commercial truck drivers enforced by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).
The ELD, which takes effect is 2016, is a way to enforce the drivers’ hours of service (HOS) mandate, which limits a driver’s working hours to 70 hours in order to lessen the risk of fatigue-related accidents.
In addition to the HOS, every commercial driver must also record the name of the driver, duty status, date and time, location of their vehicle, distance traveled, and the USDOT number of the motor carrier.
Another regulation affecting the transportation sector is the Comprehensive Safety Analysis (CSA) 2010, a program administered by the FMCSA designed to improve truck safety and reduce accidents by tracking and evaluating carriers. CSA’s Safety Measurement System (SMS) calculates the preceding two years of trucking violations and crash data, and determines a safety score. The information used to calculate a safety score includes crash reports, roadside inspection reports and violations discovered during interventions.
In addition, FMCSA’s Driver Vehicle Inspection Report (DVIR) is requires drivers to create a report on their vehicle’s equipment.
