Electronic Logging Devices in Commercial Vehicles

With the continuous expansion of traffic on our nation’s highways and freeways, accidents between tractor-trailer rigs and automobiles continue to occur. Because of the large size of the trucks, accidents usually cause serious injuries and/or death.

Lawyers around the country have created a special group of attorneys claiming to be experts in this particular area of litigation.

Although they attempt to make the cases sound very difficult to try in order the represent that their “expertise” is necessary to adequately represent injured parties there are plenty of qualified attorneys in the Chattanooga area that can competently handle these types of cases. Talk to several local attorneys before you make a decision which should not be based on glitzy commercials or big promises.

A proposal has been made by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) which would require commercial truck and bus companies to use Electronic Logging Devices (ELD’s) in their vehicles. Said proposal is an effort to require drivers to improve complaints with the safety rules that dictate the number of hours a driver can work.

In interstate bus and truck crashes, drivers often exceed limits on work hours. Driver impairment which includes fatigue was a factor in more than 12% of the 129,120 total crashes that involved large trucks or busses in 2012.

It is projected that the proposed rule is expected to prevent approximately 20 fatalities and 434 injuries each year for an annual safety benefit of 394.8 million dollars.

Some drivers of their employers alter paper log books or keep a separate set of book thereby concealing their driving practices from inspection.

Hopefully the use of ELD’s would make it increasingly difficult for drivers to misrepresent their hours and would help educed crashes by fatigued drivers.