White House Approves E-Log Mandate - Copy

The wait is almost over for Electronic Logging Devices to become a mandated driver staple.

The rule requires all drivers now subject to keeping records of duty status to use an Electronic Logging Device. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration originally submitted the rule to the Office of Management and Budget on August 7, with the projected publication set for November 18. 

So it had taken over half a year, but the proposed rule to require drivers to use Electronic Logging Devices has finally been cleared by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget. 

Because of this recent development, it is expected that a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking will be published by the end of March.

That timeline was pushed up a few weeks compared to the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) monthly report which projected the Office of Management and Budget to clear the rule later in the month.

According to the DOT, the new rule is comprised of four basic parts:

1. Requiring drivers to now keep records of duty status to use Electronic Logging Devices
2. Specifying performance and design criteria of the devices
3. Stating the supporting documents that drivers will still be required to have
4. Dealing with driver harassment apprehensions, which derailed the previous Electronic Logging Device rule

Along with Electronic Logging Device mandate, the FMCSA’s Carrier Safety Fitness Determination rule proposal is also projected to still be published August 4, according to the report.

The rule would alter the FMCSA’s data gathering process in regards to how it calculates a carrier’s Safety Fitness Determination score. After the rule is passed, the agency will use data from roadside inspections, investigations, violation history and crashes, which is a nearly identical data set that is currently being used in calculating a Safety Measurement Scores in the agency’s existing Compliance, Safety, Accountability program.