You would have to be a mushroom or
completely uninvolved with the trucking industry to not be aware of all the
uproar over E-logs. There have been
plenty of arguments against ELD’s: from the intrusive nature, to the ability of
the FMSCA to implement the regulations, to whether ELD’s really make us
safer.
One argument I heard recently was that
ELD’s will cause drivers to speed more because there is more pressure to drive
X number of miles within a time frame they can no longer manipulate. This was an interesting idea to me because I
drive a truck that is governed at 65 MPH.
There are only four places I can
speed:
1. Construction zones
2. In/around cities
3. California, and
4. Oregon
I can honestly say that E-logs haven’t
caused me to speed, so I asked a friend who drives a truck that is wide open
and just got on E-logs in December. He
said that he got tired of paying speeding tickets years ago - so no, he doesn’t
speed - but on E-logs he feels a sense of urgency that he never felt when he
was on paper logs. He said he always
feel like he’s “got to go.” (And he
didn’t mean potty!)
I think it would be interesting to find
out if the occurrence of speeding tickets issued to trucks goes up, but I hope
no one decides to spend (waste) tax dollars to find out.
As a Libertarian, I’m generally opposed to
most Government regulation. I’m not
personally opposed to E-logs, they helped me a lot when I came to work here
while learning new HOS laws, plus they do all the math.
What say you? Do you feel a sense of urgency on E-logs that
you never felt on paper? Have you found
yourself more likely to speed to make up time lost in backups caused by construction,
accidents or rush hour traffic? Leave a
comment and let me know what you think.
