On Dec. 17, 2019, all motor carriers and drivers subject to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) electronic logging devices (ELD) final rule must use an ELD.
The deadline also pertains to grandfathered automatic onboard recording devices (AOBRDs), which will no longer be allowed to provide records of duty status as a substitute to a required ELD. Motor carriers utilizing an AOBRD must have a fully operational ELD installed by the deadline.
There will be no extensions or exceptions made past the deadline and there will be no "soft enforcement" grace period.
According to the CVSA, if a commercial vehicle driver is required to have an ELD is not equipped with a registered compliant ELD, the driver is considered to have no record of duty status. A property-carrying driver who does not have record of duty status in their possession when required be declared "out of service" for 10 hours and a passenger-carrying driver without a record of duty status when one is required will be placed "out of service" for eight hours.
FMCSA implemented the ELD rule to make it easier and faster to accurately track, manage and share record of duty status information, and to help improve road safety and reduce the number of crashes. An ELD automatically records a driver’s driving time and other hours-of-service data. Hours-of-service rules and regulations were developed to minimize driver fatigue and improve safety for everyone on the road. In addition, ELDs monitor a vehicle’s engine data, such as when the engine is running, whether the vehicle is moving, miles driven, duration of engine operation, etc.
