Zonar Systems has announced a roadway to compliance with the final rules of Electronic Logging Device (ELD) mandate from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). This new mandate, drafted with the help of Zonar executives and requires the adoption and use of ELDs by all drivers to complete paper records of duty status within the next two years.
“When the ELD mandate was first proposed, we didn’t want to be a ‘me too’ solution provider. We wanted to leverage our experience and existing solutions to be at the forefront of a mandate that will help save lives and boost efficiency for both motor carriers and safety inspectors,” said Fred Fakkama, vice president of compliance at Zonar Systems. “By providing the education, guidance, implementation capabilities and leveraging innovative technology in our ELD, the Zonar 2020, Zonar is primed to help fleet managers work towards compliance by the time the rules go into affect.”
The ELD mandate aims to significantly reduce the paperwork burden associated with hours-of-service record keeping for interstate truck drivers while improving the quality of logbook data. Additionally, compliant organizations will ultimately reduce hours-of-service violations by making it more difficult for drivers to misrepresent their time on logbooks and avoid detection by FMCSA and law enforcement personnel. Initial analysis by the FMCSA shows it will also help reduce crashes by fatigued drivers and prevent approximately 20 fatalities and 434 injuries each year for an annual safety benefit of $394.8 million.
“Many solutions providers will try to sell a quick fix, but in reality, fleets without an existing ELD designed to adapt to the mandate will need to take a strategic approach and work back from when its fleet needs to be compliant to where its fleet is now including all the steps in-between,” said Fakkama. “Getting a fleet and its drivers to switch from paper logs to a technology they may not be familiar with has an inherent learning curve. Our objective is to help fleets make this as a seamless process as much as possible.”
Zonar’s recommended steps to ELD mandate compliance are:
- Understanding the ELD mandate and how it will affect your fleet is the first step towards compliance.
- Second, knowing that the mandate is thorough and consists hundreds of pages of rules and regulations, and how to implement the process of change management from paper logs to an ELD across the fleet. Meaning, a fleet owner and/or manager will need to rely on compliance experts to help them understand the legislation’s specifics including what parts affect their fleet and its impact.
- Prepare your team and organization with the right technology and infrastructure.
