Is your ELD Solution FMCSA Compliant? Here’s How to Find Out

An ELD (Electronic Logging Device) is the latest technological advancement that allows truck drivers to easily track Hours of Service (HOS) without having to use a paper and pencil. Since 2017, all drivers are mandated to use an ELD to comply with HOS standards in accordance with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) regulations.  

If you have an ELD Solution, congrats! You are on the first step towards assuring a safer environment for both your drivers and the road. But, it’s not enough to just buy an ELD. With so many new laws and regulations for the new FMCSA mandate regarding ELDs, it can be quite confusing to tell whether or not you’re actually complying. 

However, there are a few common mistakes you check on yourself to assess whether your ELD solution is compliant, such as: 

• If you start driving without logging into the device using a unique username and password, then you are not compliant. A compliant ELD mandates that the driver needs to login with their own unique identifier and password before starting on their route in order to accurately assign driver logs to drivers. 
• If you set the beginning-of-trip trigger to speed more than 5 miles per hour, then you are not compliant. Instead, an ELD should automatically change the in-motion status to “driving” while the vehicle is in motion. Fleets can alter the miles-per-hour threshold to trigger the status change, but they cannot set that above five miles per hour. 
• If you allow the back office to make edits to drivers’ logs without first presenting them to the driver, then you are breaking compliance since the back office cannot make changes to driver logs without the driver’s knowledge and consent first. 
• If you delete an error in the driver log, then you’re breaking compliance. Deleting errors is not allowed whatsoever. Instead, if you wish to correct an error, a driver must edit, enter missing info, or annotate the ELD records. Meanwhile, the original record should stay as is and have an inactive event record status.  
• If you let drivers shorten driving time or assign it to someone other than the designated co-driver, then you are not compliant. Compliant ELD solutions automatically records all of the time that the vehicle is moving as driving time that cannot be altered or changed into non-driving time. However, if a driver forgets to log out of an account and he or she is on a driving team, then the time records a be reassigned between the other drivers. 

These are simple mistakes that your ELD provider should help to prevent and correct. If your ELD provider is lacking in customer service, you run the risk of getting violated by the FMCSA. Luckily, UTECH combines extensive technological, industry, and compliance knowledge with the up-to-date customer service necessary to ensure your business always runs smoothly, safely, and efficiently.