ELDs eliminated many problems with logbooks
Hi. My name is David, and I love ELDs.
I feel much better now that I got that out in the open.
What’s interesting is that there are many drivers these days who don’t know why the ELD mandate is a big deal. They have never known a trucking job without the tattletale units in their trucks.
Those of us who have been around for a few years, or decades, remember a time when there were no logbooks, never mind ELDs. When I started in 1988, logbooks were recommended but I managed to avoid them until the ‘90s.
Early in the ‘90s I received my one and only ticket, and from that point on I learned the tricks of the trade. It was an art form to learn how to color between the lines in the coloring book. All my life I tried to stay within the lines, but it was just the thing to do in trucking.
I, like many others, bought into the theory that we needed to push the limits to deliver freight. Many conversations with dispatchers were just outright bullying: “This load needs to get there. I don’t care how you do it, get it done. Every other driver can do it, why can’t you?”
Nothing else mattered. Didn’t matter if you were sick, the weather was bad, or the truck broke down. Just deliver the load.
It wasn’t a subtle, “nudge-nudge, wink-wink, get it done”. That came after laws were passed to prevent dispatchers from forcing drivers to run illegally. Then the message was subtle.
Benefits of ELDs
Then came the U.S. ELD mandates. By that time, I had spent about 25 years in the industry was frankly quite tired of making up for horrible planners and dispatchers. Now we have the Canadian mandate, and many are saying the sky is falling.
Not me.
I don’t need to tell anyone where I am. If I have an issue that’s so serious that I can’t respond, the office can pinpoint where I am and send help.
And there is never a question about whether I have the time left to do the run. Lazy dispatchers still ask of course, but my response has been silence until they realize that it’s up to them to check.
No Department of Transportation officer needs to decipher my writing, and I don’t need to cram a long city name into a small place. Plus, I don’t even need to remember what city I’m in when I’m waking. Been there, done that, many times. “Where in the H-E-double-hockey-sticks am I?”
And remember the days of carbon paper? By the end of the month the carbon copy was useless, but legal. Go figure.
In a split second I now know how many hours I have been working in whatever cycle I’m on, in whatever jurisdiction. No more sitting on pins and needles hoping the DOT officer is good at math.
A good ELD will also have so many options and tools to help educate everyone in the industry and the public.
After a young man was killed on Winnipeg’s South Perimeter a few years ago, there was a lot of talk in the media that truckers were running wild and free. Lauren McNabb of CJOB/Global came for a ride with me and I showed her all the ways we can be tracked, and the tools to help drivers and office staff. It was a great informative session that was passed on to the public and I believe it helped calm some of the public’s fears.
I don’t need to list the issues with ELDs because any problems are easily solved and are far outweighed by the positives.
I will continue to advocate for ELDs to be used to the best of their ability to keep everyone safe.
Have your say
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Yes sir
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I can’t agree more with you sir!
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I support ELD 100% … I’ve had my CDL since 1975 ran with paperlogs from 1978 until 2014 and I don’t miss them ! Dash cams are great too I wouldn’t drive my truck without them.
I’ve been pulling tankers since 1978 maybe that’s a factor compared to dry boxes or Reefers when it comes to running legally. -
Is there any proof that it’s safer out there with ELD. In the USA I heard it’s worse. Driver’s now cramming in driving to get the job done. Peddle to the middle.
When you are close to running out of hours you are looking for a parking spot nothing to be found. Either you need to quit early hour or because you cannot find a spot especially when you run around the GTA or north of Toronto your stuck. I’m glad I’m almost near retirement.
Motor carriers and drivers who operate in excess of the HOS limits may also have a competitive advantage over those that do not, due to the increased productivity obtained through the additional operational hours. As these drivers are able to work more hours, they may be paid more than those who are following the rules. As a result, non-compliance with the Regulations may be used as a tactic to recruit and retain drivers at a time when the industry is dealing with a driver shortage.
Driver fatigue is recognized in Canada and internationally as a critical risk factor associated with motor vehicle crashes. Fatigue in commercial drivers is especially important given that large trucks and buses involved in crashes can cause more severe injuries and more frequent fatalities than private passenger vehicle crashes. To mitigate the risk of fatigue, the federal, provincial and territorial governments have HOS regulations in place that limit a driver’s on-duty and driving time and require minimum periods of rest or off-duty time in order to reduce fatigue-related crashes, injuries and fatalities.
The amendments will yield safety benefits by reducing crashes (less property damage and fewer injuries and fatalities); reduced out-of-service detention time of drivers for HOS violations; time savings to both the motor carrier industry (administrative costs saved) and provincial and territorial governments (quicker, more efficient and effective inspections and facility audits); and paper daily log savings for motor carriers. The total benefits are estimated to have a present value of $380.33 million, with an annualized value of $54.15 million. In addition, non-quantified benefits would include fairer and more level competition for federally regulated motor carriers; greater harmonization with U.S. regulatory requirements; improved compliance with HOS rules; and an improved quality of life for drivers (increased opportunity for recuperative rest).
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You make the same promises the federal government made here in the U.S. These promises of increased safety and a lower number of crashes, deaths and injuries was not realized. And, the only solution bureaucrats can come up with is increased control of drivers. What BS.
Elds have cause the trucker shortage from 20000 to 100000, I don’t mind the use of elds however there are alot of flaws that while we get a free pass for now will soon see drivers getting tickets because elds fail on many levels.
If your a long haul highway driver or city driver they do wonders, for all other a night mare.
What do eld lack , 1st and most important is they lack enroute inspections. If you lose a signal light head light or some other minor issue durring the course of your shift there is no way to record it. So guess what …ticket for the driver ,not only for failing to maintain equipment but falsification of log book, BIG TICKET, you can flag stops like brake checks and tire checks your forced to sit and wait for a min of 15 min before you move or it won’t record it. A good driver that does proper pretrips can do a brake check in 5 min , same with the mandatory tire checks every three hours , that an hour’s work lost.
Also to not have to figure out what city your in (which if you don’t know then you should not be driving in the first place) means you have to allow the sale of your info and data and link your phone giving access to your personal info .
The the main thing MR David Henry fail to mention is that managers and dispatcher have the ability to change your eld any time they want without repercussions, again leaving the driver on the hook. When they removed the liability that he talks about in 2009 they removed the ability to stop forced dispatch and forced over hours , he is totally wrong in his claim that they can’t do it , sure if you can prove it yes but as they have always done they do it over the phone as it can be used against them under Canada in law so they can tell outright to do it and not worry about being held accountable.
There is nothing wrong with paper logs , elds are engineered to the preferred loggin methods of dot not the law, and like all things are designed to go after the trucker pocket book so they can fill quotas as there pay and promotions are based on them , just because they give grace now does not mean they won’t use it later .
Elds provide no extra safety what’s so ever , a good driver is just that a good driver paper or else won’t change it. Not will it have any impact on shippers or receiver’s from screwing up your day all it does is push good driver out for cheaper new drivers with no experience and has cause the average wage to decrease to as little as 24$ / hr
Less for city work. The thing with the old days is you got payed well to be away from home which is another issue with elds. If your an hour from home you must park your truck and if it’s reset time guess what…..you don’t go home for reset . Also elds fail in that the places for truckers to stop has deceased drastically so now your stuck sleeping on an off ramp because you can’t drive 50km to the next rest area or town to stop safe.
At the end of the day it will just be another hand in the pocket of truckers.
The reason truckers have a bad name is because of the propaganda corporation and media constantly spew to keep wages down,because people want free shipping of there purchases which wrong. Why is it ok for a trucker to work cheap not get paid for waiting times or lost work ,not get paid for sleeping in truck and never be home.
You want good drivers bring in graduated license.
When I started with trimac I was only allow to haul empty 5 axel then moved on to loaded and empty 6 axel as so forth untill I could haul everything, that was the best thing to happen to me and saved me from having accidents , that’s what will make trucking safer not gps tracking of your every move, cameras on you that can be turned on anytime they want that face both inside and out and sound recording when desired.
Bring elds to paper standards with all the ability paper has and I will be on board, untill then I will keep my 1995 fld120 that is eld exempt , and more reliable, efficient,safer and better for the climate then new trucks.
Trucking is going down hill fast ,you can only build a match stick bridge over the cliff for so long before it crashes. Almost everything we have/use is dependant on trucks , it’s time to start acting like it instead of making stupid useless rules that only hinder the industry.
You get what you pay for , you want bad drivers make lots of redundant rules with low pay.
You want quality drivers let them have some leeway, pay them properly for the job they do and stop pushing the few bad drivers constantly in the media.
I’d like to add that elds do nothing to deal with the real issues with trucking, lack of training!
We need more PROPER training ,I have had to train drivers and remove the bad habits that government mandated programs for new drivers train. Program like MELT are producing bad unsafe drivers. They don’t teach people how properly drive, things like how to skip gears on hills to avoid spinning out and sliding backwards, most importantly they don’t teach people to drive to how fast you can go and still stop safely ,such as going down a hill at least 1 gear slower then you go up instead new drivers go down hills to the ability to maintain speed, over using brakes and putting them in a situation where they can’t stop in time in event of having to do emergency stop. Or how to regain traction on your steers when you lose it and can’t turn . And so on.
These programs including elds are make work programs only, creating non truckers jobs but costing truckers and company’s money for little or no benefit.
Also I have no issue with bringing immigrants in to trucking but programs like Lima tie a persons citizenship to the job there by forcing a driver to do as there told or get kicked out of the country and the byproduct is they pay them less,(give them enough training,only enough to pass the test and get on the road), then average drivers keeping rates down.
The main and foremost issue with trucking is non truckers ,they want $5 shirts and $20 jeans and they need low trucking rate to help with that. The reason there are safety issues is plain and simple profit. Properly training drivers takes money and time , most corporate trucking compys are way to top Heavy, I’ve seen company with worker to management ratios as high as 3:1 ,
No one want to deal with the reality that trucking is as it is because the main Populus wants it that way because to do it right and fix the issues requires people to pay more for goods or corporations to give up some of there record profits and management wages.
If your a good properly trained driver you know when you need to sleep and get off the road, if a company fires you for not doing a load you go to the next company and get a job and file a complaint for wrongfully dismissal because firing you for refusing unsafe work is against the law and does not need an eld (that can be manipulated by dispatchers) to stop it.
Stop promoting the government agenda to destroy trucking for the sake for cheap to free shipping rates. As I said before you get what you pay for and our society need to pull it’s head out of the sand and fix the problem not the symptoms.
I’m safe with out them and do not want one in my truck….I am a oo. I know when to sleep and to drive.it is a revenue box is all it is.
I’ve been in the trucking business for over 50 years log books are the way to go it does not matter whether or not you a good or what have you you can’t tell people how to sleep everybody sleeps differently ELD it does a lot of things all in one me personally I retired because of eld I’m only used to log books personally I have about 4.5 million miles logged I’ve been in the business like I said about I don’t know 55 years something like that so all I’m telling you is I haven’t killed myself or anybody working on log book it’s all on the person it’s not the log book it’s not the ELD it’s the person you have to admit truck driving is not for everybody
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Thank you for your years of service.
I agree with you…trucking used to be fun.
Political folks are destroying it.
Im not a fan of being rushed into a eld 16 hour window.
Running an eld isn’t the issue it’s the parameters around it.
Maybe it’s just me but it sure seems like everyone is driving a little bit faster now trying to beat the clock. In the day and into the evening rest areas and truckstops seem to be like ghost towns.
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Interesting comment… And what else did we expect would happen.
Hey guy, I wont argue with you about ELD’s.
I will say that at more than 4million accident free miles 47 years.
I’m going to continue to do my thing, ( within 100miles) the old way.
I’m a safe driver, because of me, electronic boxes be damned.
I would like to know why MAD was involved in all this new trucking regulations. And what makes them think that jo public that works a 40 hour plus week is any safer than a experienced truck driver .jo public can work a 60 hour week then get in his 40 foot rv and then spend half the night driving to his camp site.whare are the rules for weekend warriors and there over size rigs
Hello.
The issue I see is even with paper logs, not everyone needs a 8 or 10 hour consecutive rest break.
After 4 and a half hours of sleep I awake. With U.S. regs, I then spend 5 or more hours of “safe” productive driving time waiting to be legal. Then by law I may work up to 13 hours with a 2 hour extension for possible delays, making my total time awake possibly 20 hours, legally…
In times past, a 4 or 5 hour sleep when physically required, along with another rest break through my day, always kept me operating safely. Now, being handicapped by needing to run 13 hours within a 14 or 16 hour clock, I’m driving tired more than years gone by.
Also most days l shut down leaving time and miles on the table, so as not to continue driving tired. Not a profitable situation, which is also a reason why drivers are leaving the industry.
Real truck drivers don’t use ELD’s.
Elds. Are Dangerous that’s why there is more truck wrecks, and when the clock stops they pull over on the side of the road very dangerous they speed to beat the clock and now the big companies are taking the PC away boy what a life the government has to many regulations and making life miserable for the the wannabe trucker 30 year veteran over the road I have been in every state accident free 2 million miles. And now all the government does is try to hurt the small guys the big companies forget they to where small and the Electric trucks are dangerous plusses there is not enough of power, electricity substations to supply the batteries that when they catch on fire the fire department can’t put the fires put plusses there wait is an issue. I believe the Amish have the right ideas with horse mules
Elogs are what’s causing wrecks because everyone is playing beat the clock and won’t slow down for anything . Elogs are stressful because every load I do is by appointment . My favorite truck stop is 8 hrs and 20 mins from our yard I have to set and twiddle my fingers for 30 mns . I spend more time sleeping at customers now and no facilities , use to stay at the truck stops and eat breakfast but now I don’t want to start my clock. One time I started my clock because I spun a tire pulling into the pit . 30 minutes from the yard and have to take a 10 . ELOGS SUCK .
Paper eliminates all the problems with eld’s
Hey David Henry, tell me you’ve never inched through a receiver’s lot at 2 mph so as not to trigger your electronic babysitter to make a 1 am appointment when you are supposed to be in the sleeper berth. I’ll wait.
Is there anyway to get these company to have trucks due speed limit 63 mph puts me to sleep driving i40 west i 70w in kansas i80 i94 i 10 speeds limit our 80 and 75 in some states. Its hard to get up to speed getting on the highway at 45 and other trucks and cars our at highway speed. The govner of these truck slow production and limit drivers to only making less than $1000 a week. I would also like to see pay go up i’ve been driving 11years and only get .64cpm but if i lease a truck i make about the same how is that possible. And why if im leaseing a truck the company holds my speed limit 68 and 70 on curse. If im buying the fuel paying the payment and all other expense shouldnt i be able to turn my truck up and be able to do more loads.. trucking is my life but im thinking of moving on from it.
I rather like the ELD as well, however….
I definitely drive a lot faster now. I cannot fudge time and cannot go back and revise my hours because of traffic, weather delay, and other acts of god – or maybe I wanted to sleep a few extra hours and didn’t want it to affect my hours. The solution is to drive at night and exceed the speed limit because I am forced to race against time.
Roadside inspections are easy. Just email the data and their computer will reconcile any problems. Of course my written log book was the same – the officer had to be able to read and comprehend English.
What I have issues with us if your elog breaks. My company did an “update” to our elogs which pretty much wrecked them for a month.
You like your elog…good for you.
The last 2 years since elog , i was never so stressed out in my 32 years of driving
I have 36 years in last 10 running bc fr alberta between Calgary edmoton to all points north and southern bc now that eld are law freight haulers with light dry vans are tailgating trying to pass on 2 lane roads driving like total idiots because the only have certain amount of time to get to the coast or they are sitting 100k fr delivery fr 8 hours I safely have over 3 million miles with out some machine telling me when to sleep two weeks into these eld make me want to hang it up go run a loader in a gravel pit or plow dirt on farm not a fan of elds at all
It’s just government control. Mandatory rules equals communism. Forced to take 10 hours off to sleep. Nobody sleeps for 10 hours and if they do there is a problem with them. 10 hours off and not tired. It’s the new stock in the industry that’s the problem.
Elds may have a great place to replacing the log book. However what we really need to do to help truck drivers out is get rid of some of these stupid laws they have. Limiting trucks to the two right lanes going through major cities is crazy. Why doesn’t 80,000 lb truck have to deal with people getting on and off ramps and those that get on at this ramp and get off to ramps up? Why not do the smart thing and put the people that are traveling all the way through in the left hand lane so they don’t have to have so much interaction with other vehicles? Think about it, the vehicle going straight through the city should not have to put up with vehicles getting on and off it should be the left lane should be a through traffic lane and if that is a big truck going all the way through the city so be it. Right lane, should be the I slow down and speed up Lane for getting off. Middle Lane or middle two lanes should be normal traffic Lanes. And the far left lane furthest from the exits, should be the through traffic lane for those that are going straight through the area.
Back when I was driving, you could split your 8 hours sleeper birth into 2 hours and 6 hours or any combination more than 2 hours with another. That together equals 8 hours. That was a great system for me to stop take a quick power nap and wait till traffic die down whether it be a two hour break or three or four hour break. One thing that really hurts drivers with an ELD is you pretty much now have to go and spend your time in congested traffic trying to get through a city during rush hour. So much easier to take a short nap let the traffic die down, and then just proceed directly through the city. Those are some of the things that FM SCA should be looking at. Thanks for your time.
I’ve been driving since the 80’s also and that statement David makes about “log books being recommended” is about the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever read! They were 100% required then! ELD’s have caused inexperienced drivers to drive too fast for conditions and cause thousands of wrecks! More laws and regulations will not fix the problem! Drivers need hands on experience driving with a trainer for more than 60 days. And, I will add, the trainer needs more than 6 months to 2 years experience themselves!
I’m all for eldest as well. But while we are talking about them let’s talk about truck parking and facilities for drivers. I’ve trucked across Canada a few times but mostly I head south and I must say there is no comparison between the two countries. As far as trucking goes canada is a s#!t hole
Must be from Canada, different country than the U.S. That is a bunch of bull that you drove an 18-wheeler for 2 years in the United States without using a logbook, maybe you drove short distance where you didn’t need one. You didn’t drive cross-country in the U.S. in the 80s without having to use a logbook. You can also lie on ELDs, maybe not as much or easily as with paper logs. What do you think the PC is about, it is about giving the driver the ability to get around the HOS. It’s a proven fact ELDs are unsafe by the studies being done. Accident’s have gone up, they put stress on the driver because they have to race the clock. ELDs count every single minute, whereas paper logs give drivers leeway.
Back in 1988 DOT said 8 hours driving and you need a break. Now it’s 11, me I need a break after 8. Been out here since 1982. 11 hours is too many to be safe. Also DOT should be on the road like they used to be. I see so many unsafe trucks/drivers.
The HOS have not changed , only the way they are recorded has changed. HOURS OF SERVICE TELL YOU WHEN YOU CAN LEGALLY DRIVE WHETHER USING PAPER OR AN ELD SO STOP WITH ALL THE WHINING ABOUT ELD’S
I’ll be commenting as a soon to be former truck driver /future driver manager.
The HOS law as it is, isn’t really made for the ELD mandate. Carrier remuneration is squeezing the driver’s to do so much, within a timeframe, and drivers have to plan their sleep. Planning your sleep seems nice on paper but in reality, drivers want to do their loads as per their assignment… Which means their quality of sleep is often hindered. Our minds run 24/7/365.
Drivers will take risks. I know: I’ve been there… Sometimes it was a rush to get there before my 14 or 16 was up… Just like a drug.
Without proper understanding of the realities of what drivers go through, you can throw a piece of technology or law to try to make our roads safer… But in reality, creating unnecessary hazards for the drivers and the general public.
I agree that it is the onus of planners and dispatchers to make sure the driver is safe, and qualified in hours, to do his or her run. But also, as a driver, I always appreciated the fact that my dispatchers would plan me around my “mentally and physically peak” hours and also, balance my mileage.
Until carriers get in the programme, ELDs can and will be a nuisance to public safety, and many drivers have quit because of ELDs because of the way it has been implemented.
Well probably a company driver .But depends on what u haul like produce u load always load late at night and yes u have hours but u gett sleepy at night also if u delivery over 20000 miles and in big city’s like NY and Chicago lots of traffic.
51 years for me, and I won’t argue the fact that 11 hours a day driving is enough.
Yup! Many time years back I ran more, but now? 11 is fine.
However common sense still rules and we ALL still see the same TRACKS going into the median on the curves, which means ELD’s do not solve the issue.
Accidents? They have increased and that is a fact.
I myself have NEVER WORKED A JOB THAT I was told I had to be there regardless!
If I needed a nap I did just that.
I actually did go in the ditch cause I fell asleep when I started in the early 70’s no damage, but learned my lesson.
ELD’s are a beat the clock situation in many many ways, the proper way? Common sense
It all just comes back to that, did you sleep during your 10 hr break, ARE your alert?
And ITS GOT TO BE THERE?
If its not your fault, your doing your job proper and this place you work for is FORCING you to take risks? Time to find a real job, cause you don’t have one.
ELD’s ? No thanks! Two more months and I will be done with it!
Transpieration of goods are required and traffic saftey seems to be placed on the shoulders of the truck driver inztead of tbe general public . The general public needs to mada aware of the limits of trucks and the 80000 gross weight and not cut them off as has happen to me many times in cities .
Well just because you love ELD’S doesn’t mean everybody does. You want to run your eld have at it I don’t want anything to do with them I’ll take paper anytime! Just ad I said they would they have caused more accidents than logs ever would or will. Beat the clock that’s all this crap is I’ve been out here for 47 years now and I’m damn sick and tired of FMCSA shoving shit down our throats especially when they don’t have a clue what the inside of a truck looks like. I don’t tell them how to do their job and they don’t need to be telling me how to do mine.
Been driving since 1972. You had to have and show a log book. Drive up to 10 hours, off 8. Split 5 on 5 off, went through many weigh stations, never had a problem. Traffic heavy take a short break let it clear.
One of my concerns is if an interpreter helps you take your test, who reads the road signs for you?
So our new breed works by a means of artificial ignorance, excuse me ment intelligence and some idiots in an office who have never driven.
There has never in my life been a “hot” load, either someone didn’t order on time, or the shipper didn’t ship on time.
ELDs are pushing drivers to push the limits, more speed, running red lights, not paying attention to weather or road conditions. Dispatchers don’t help by pushing some drivers that are to dumb to use common sense.
Words I was told when I started, ” you can deliver late, you can’t deliver if you are dead or tipped over.”
Common sense, enforce the laws on the idiots in 4 wheelers.
I can tell from your article you are one of those, wink wink drivers who purportedly went between the lines of the old log books, who now profess the greatness of the new ELD’s and it’s mandate. You either drove for a ATA company or you never used one at all. You give acclaim to a mandate that did nothing for safety. As new data is beginning to show it is the opposite. Atleast you could easily fudge the line drawing books. Now you have to drive when the clock tells you to drive. Whether your sick, or the weather, or traffic. Now when you start your clock, it’s started. In 14 hours you are logging off. If you move from the fuel island to a spot, your on the drive line. If you move 1 foot on most apps, your driving. Do you know how many drivers have lost un told numbers of hours because of this? You can’t edit it. The real folly of all this you ask? The ELD and mandate are worthless unless you own stock with one of those companies. All you need is 2 elds, or more as long as you pay for the device, pay for the subscription for each, & have different user names, you can have as many hours as you want. Use one up, sign out. Start the other, fill out a blank BOL for your starting city and waa la
You now have a fresh 14 and 70. Or you could just subscribe to a wink wink monitoring service. For $120 a month you can have them change your log for you. Get a brand new shift with all days fixed. A pretty good deal for that price. So you professing the new saftey standard these devices have created is a folly.
Maybe the next mandate the FMCSA does they will get some real 25+ year drivers for advisors.
That does not include ATA drivers. If your truck doesn’t have a sleeper, that’s probably you.
Just keeping it real.
Ronnie Broyles
30 yr veteran
You can take those ELD’S and stick them where the sun don’t shine. They are nothing but problems now you got to run even harder because of them. If the big companies want to run them let them but leave us owner operators alone.
Have been running elds for years it has provided zero safety the computer will run your but off and strand you in a corner they do not allow you your natural sleep. This is a device that was put in place for safety and has failed us. Safety is about money not your life. The key to safety is getting the turnover rate turned around in the trucking industry this is your no. 1 safety problem our government ATA alliance and fmcsa has failed us. Elds speed limiters terrible hours of service bad brockers bad companies dispatchers safety recruiting trucking schools insurance companies are responsible for this trucking mess we live in we should be dripping drivers in this industry not pouring new drivers in. Until they get this turned around the correct way the unsafe industry they have created will continue. My suggestion drivers keep calling your lawmakers about your concerns maybe someday just someday they will finally get it.
The biggest downside to an ELD is the 14 hour rule scenario you wake up on duty VI start driving 4 hours later you want fuel an a sandwich on duty fuel pull forward and off duty you get snack and coffee if no one pulls in behind finish 30 break that clears you to finish your 11 head out 3 hours later you get tired and want a nap it goes a bit long Oopps your clocks are together off again 2 hours restroom break but now every minute you sit counts off your clock you get 8 and a half maybe nine in bu your out of hours the ELD makes me drive without my afternoon nap it sucks
I hate the ELD you must own your company, The ELD doncar if you in traffic or hours at a company trying to get loaded or unloading. I’m going to try to get the ELD gone.
Not fan of eld or the general rules.
I have trucked almost 2 million miles with no tickets and one minor fender bender.
All of these rules are designed to babysit the 2-3% that cant manage their lives or tell dispatchers no.
Nobody knows my circadian rythm, body, or mind better than i do. Its an opinion only but a strongly held one, that the loosest most dangerous drivers are the people on the road next to my family whether they drove with paper or are on eld.
If you are working for a subsistance level of pay you take chances because you think you havent got anything to lose.
When you love your job, are well paid, and adulted up, you dont take chances.
When companies stop hiring people that need babysat, the industry will stop having the barrage of dumb mistake and senseless deths.
Yes, that will cost more but trust me, there is no shortage of drivers ever, only desperate people that will work for peanuts.
The job is not easy, neither is the lifestyle required. I am well paid and look after my job like it matters because it does.
Not everyone has that mentality, they need to go… not blanket fixes for small percentage problems.
The problem with ELD is it made everyone is in a hurry trying to use all the time and if you drive today you can see it with the wrecks FMCSA has not prooven thats it not more dangerous with them and being they wont let drivers stop the clock and take a nap when tired like paperlogs did not everybody is the same about sleeping some need more sleep than others ask any doctor paperlogs is safer untill the change it so blame all the big truck wrecks the falt on the FMCSA
David Henry you are 100% absolutely right! I’ve been driving tractor trailers for 47 years and the elds are the best thing I’ve ever seen that has actually helped our industry a great deal. Hopefully elds assist in making the whole industry more intelligent.
I agree with David but on one point I would like to make. I think all commercial vehicles should have ends regardless of size of the company including Bob trucks and vans. I also think that a test should be required for rv owners.
Until they give me some leeway i will be against them.
I dont mind the reasons listed in the article but when im 30 min from home and have to sit it out or im almost to my delivery and have to wait until morning no i stay an advocate against them. Been at this well over 40 years and until they make some changes i would rather be on paper
It feels intrusive ive been driving for 22 years
I agree 100% about the ELD It’s the greatest tool that we can have in ours trucks … Dash Cams included… I’ve had my cdl since April 1975 done the paper logs from 1978 until 2014 and I don’t miss that extra time and effort doing them !
To each his own. Just because you like it doesn’t mean I like it. As long as I get from point a to point B in a legal amount of time it should not matter how I run it. If I want to drive 2 hours and sleep an hour drive 2 hours and sleep an hour that’s my business. The reason they are having so many wrecks these days are because of EL d’s because they are forcing drivers to work 14 hours A-day Whether they are fatigued or not. Anyway I can go on and on but I won’t because I got to deliver this load to point B. All you fellow truckers out there have a great day and be safe.
This article is so complete and accurate, I feel like I wrote it myself. I can understand the pushback from those who never tried ELDs and yes I’m one of those older guys who normally would be against them.
Not a big fan. Living in my truck all week and an hour max from home and guess what? ELD says I need a reset. An hour from my comfortable home and stuck inside a truck with less room than the average bathroom. Even prisoners can walk around in their cell but I can’t go home.
Although ELDs are greener and serve a great purpose, they have not resolved the issue of manipulation, similar to that of drivers running 2 separate log books to work longer hours. For example, Driver A works a 10 hour shift with company A, with their ELD on their vehicle. That same day, Driver A works another 8 shift with company B, who uses a different ELD provider. There’s no way for the ministry to find out unless someone actually catches it in the act. I have a solution.
That’s a great analogy of how you can avoid being forced to work and also how to avoid a citation for “not” doing your job correctly. I will say that the same argument applies to this comment as to the opposing which we have heard over and over throughout the debates over “elogs” – “the rules have not changed”, only how you record them, or in David Henry’s case “how you respond to your dispatch”.
I would like to ask if anyone can tell me what we get in return for allowing changes to be made to our status quo, indeed, what have we ever gotten?
With each “freedom of choice” which has been taken from us over the years, the gain has been somewhat intangible – like when the officer says “I could write you up for $580 but because I’m a really nice guy, I’m only going to fine you $350”. A bit of a hollow victory.
We have sat back and watched while “regulatory changes” have rotted out the foundation of our industry: As David mentioned, there once was a time when log books weren’t required in Canada and subsequent to 1990 and the “re”regulation of the trucking industry, we have witnessed the decimation of full service truck stops – the actual support system which kept us fed with hot meals and rested with ample parking. The hours of service ensured drivers would bypass restaurants in favor of putting down the miles within the allotted HoS. Again, I ask “what have we gotten in return?”
No question that the industry needed changes however, in any other situation, where a negotiation takes place – you give up something, you get something in return. Not here. Truck stops are now glorified gas stations; prepackaged food, unmanned fueling stations and a growing demand for people to join an industry which does not support itself. No wonder we need to import labour – you need to trick someone into doing this job. The CTA has done a fabulous job of turning Canadian highways into 3rd world conditions with no change in course. Bravo!
I have been trucking for 41years and in my experience with both paper logs and eld, paper logs would still be my choice. ELDs are like everything else in today’s trucking dumbing down the drivers. You are correct when you say that now you don’t have to think about where you are or how many hours you have or that dispatch cannot push you. This use to be a profession that required a high degree of skill and the ability to stand up for yourself. Now automatic transmissions, and auto braking and lane departure, and blind spot sensors are allowing drivers to become dependent on technology. This is leading to drivers who are not in tune with what is happening around them and with the truck. Drivers are feeling pressure now from the clock ticking down, not dispatch. Before if I was tired I would take an hour for lunch and have a 20 minute snooze. Now as soon as that clock starts you had better be running. I guess I am just an old dog, but I would wager that there isn’t to many of these new drivers that could do what do what us old school drivers did and still do.
Amen!!! that is all… very well said.. and if you don’t agree with the ELD mandate, you are the likely one of the reason’s they have become prevalent!. they are good and they will help with hours of service monitoring.
I was a driver from 1987 to 2020, I wish we had this ELD system in place. I lost count how many times I left my log book in another truck, car, or at home by mistake.
Now I work in the office. In 2020 I was chasing drivers to collect coffee stain paper logs with chicken scratch writing from all the drivers. Now all the drivers on E-logs/ELD logs my guessing game is over. I now have up to minute logs with clear print out of their names and hour of service. Having an Inspection Report instantly on my computer screen is heaven when I’m looking for any defects that needs to be corrected. I too agree with David, I love ELDs also.
No safety benefit with an eld….I still run paper we proved we are much safer than the ones with eld…..I think u drank too much of that mega kool-aid that I am willing to bet u got paid to lie to alot of us. Knock that off sir u don’t know what your talking about. It’s why the steering wheel holders here have such a bad reputation. Now you need to stop spreading lies the government already got ahead of you on the unsafe regulations ok…Thank you