Heavy Duty Trucking, December 2018

ll electronic logging devices meeting the standards set by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration must do the same things in terms of recording driver hours of service data They must be integrated with the commercial vehicles engine computer and automatically record date time location engine hours vehicle miles driver duty status and engine status FMCSA does not require an approved ELD be in communication with fleet dispatch to track the vehicle or driver in real time or to be part of a vehicle mobile communications system Many owneroperators and small fleets dont need such tracking they just need the compliance On the other hand a large number of fleets closely track vehicles and have done so for a number of years They do so because collecting the type of data ELDs require and integrating that with mobile communication and back office systems provides great value by improving efficiency longrange planning and safety That doesnt mean a small fleet new to the technology needs all the bells and whistles at first But there is an advantage in using technologies and applications that make use of your ELD data beyond compliance Dont buy the most expensive device if you dont need it Jerry Roberson Bolt Systems says he advised his customers You need compliance But to me if you just plug it in for HOS you wont get as much out of it The devices generate a lot of useful data he notes And it might be worth it to spend 15 more to get some more features Better manage drivers and assets When coupled with compliance management software ELDs help simplify a complex process says Chris Ransom associate director of solutions engineering Verizon Connect Regardless of fleet size these applications can help make compliance simple and stress free he says and that allows fleet managers to focus on other things How much a fleet can benefit depends upon where people are in their life cycle of technology says Eric Witty vice president product Trimble Transportation Mobility formerly PeopleNet For those who just installed ELDs after hours of service fuel tax compliance might be the next step he suggests Now that I have an ELD I can use the device to capture the data and electronically do my fuel tax reports For small fleets the devices provide the data to monitor idling time speeding and other driver behaviors Thats important for a fleet Witty says but maybe less so for a very small operator Regardless of fleet size there are some things ELD data can reveal that resonate says Tom Cuthbertson vice president regulatory compliance Omnitracs The access to fuel management data whether a fivetruck fleet or 1000 truck fleet can pay for some of these systems Overall planning is aided by the data says Dustin Strickland McLeod Software product manager LoadMaster Enterprise If there is electronic access to each drivers HOS data load planners and driver managers can make better decisions on what loads they select for their driver When coupled with a telematics system driver availability is real time agrees John Gaither sales engineer ELD product specialist GPS Insight That can help planners decide which drivers to assign to loads days ahead Planners no longer need to wait for drivers to tell them how many hours they have and the data is more accurate I would say ELDs have created a lot more connectivity across a larger number of vehicles says Carlton Bale founder and director of strategy at ZED Connect That creates an abundance of data But the key is turning that data into useful information Some fleets that have never looked DECEMBER 2018 HDT 49 WWW TRUCKINGINFO COM A Now that electronic logging devices are mandatory how can you get the most out of the device By Jim Beach Technology Contributing Editor jbeach@ truckinginfo com IANCE BEYOND