EOBR: Making the Industry More Compliant, Safe and Efficient
Big Truck TV
Brian McLaughlin, COO, PeopleNet, discusses the effect electronic on-board recorders are having on the trucking industry, especially as it relates to driver compliance and management.
Yes and no. Electronic on-board recorders can actually help with both driver recruitment, driver training and driver retention. What we typically find is when a fleet has been running paper moves to electronic, there's an initial shock on the part of the drivers because it's too Big Brother. And typically what you'll see is a small percentage of the drivers will react adversely and the rest of the drivers will take more of a wait-and-see approach. They see that this could be better for them but also could be better for the fleet. And once the adoption and rollout happens, what you typically see is drivers never want to drive in a truck without electronic on-board recorders again.
This technology also helps to provide fleet managers peace of mind in terms of compliance; whether it's dealing with a fatality on the road, whether its dealing with an accident, what the studies will show is the majority of the truck/ passenger car accidents are not the fault of the truck driver. But in almost every case the trucking company will get blamed.
When it comes to hours of service, one of the first things the lawyers will come after is looking for the driver's log book to see if the driver was compliant. If your truck was equipped with an EOBR, you can be confident heading into these types of cases that you show very clearly in a court of law that your driver was running legal. And the additional data will, in all likelihood, show that the accident was not the fault of your driver; it was actually the fault of the other vehicle.
We've actually seen some incredible gains in fuel efficiency just by giving drivers visibility to their miles per gallon right in the cab. In some cases, we've actually seen lifts of .2 to .5 miles per gallon just by having this on-board computing technology. If drivers can now see and measure how they stack up on fuel mileage as compared to their fellow drivers, they seem to become motivated to become better, to drive more efficiently, to help conserve on fuel, either for the fleet or for themselves.
There are huge opportunities for electronic on-board computers to drive efficiencies; efficiencies in particular around driver performance. Electronic on-board recorders can save drivers as much as an hour a day in terms of reduced paper work - twenty minutes alone in the elimination of the need to fill out their driver's log, and an additional 40 or so in reduced paper work relating to shipment related forms. For the same reasons, companies can expect to see the elimination of at least 2 hours a week of back office paper work.
What EOBR (electronic on-board recorders) are really doing three things. They are primarily making the trucking industry more compliant, especially as it relates to hours of service regulations. They really help to streamline a process that is ripe for inefficiencies and potential errors. By automating HOS compliance, you reduce both errors as well as the potential for non-compliance.
Is it true that there is significant pushback from drivers against the use of electronic on-board recorders?
Yes and no. Electronic on-board recorders can actually help with both driver recruitment, driver training and driver retention. What we typically find is when a fleet has been running paper moves to electronic, there's an initial shock on the part of the drivers because it's too Big Brother. And typically what you'll see is a small percentage of the drivers will react adversely and the rest of the drivers will take more of a wait-and-see approach. They see that this could be better for them but also could be better for the fleet. And once the adoption and rollout happens, what you typically see is drivers never want to drive in a truck without electronic on-board recorders again.
Are their any liability benefits to installing EOBRs on my trucks?
This technology also helps to provide fleet managers peace of mind in terms of compliance; whether it's dealing with a fatality on the road, whether its dealing with an accident, what the studies will show is the majority of the truck/ passenger car accidents are not the fault of the truck driver. But in almost every case the trucking company will get blamed.
When it comes to hours of service, one of the first things the lawyers will come after is looking for the driver's log book to see if the driver was compliant. If your truck was equipped with an EOBR, you can be confident heading into these types of cases that you show very clearly in a court of law that your driver was running legal. And the additional data will, in all likelihood, show that the accident was not the fault of your driver; it was actually the fault of the other vehicle.
What about benefits around fuel economy. Can EOBRs have any effect on the fuel mileage that our fleet gets?
We've actually seen some incredible gains in fuel efficiency just by giving drivers visibility to their miles per gallon right in the cab. In some cases, we've actually seen lifts of .2 to .5 miles per gallon just by having this on-board computing technology. If drivers can now see and measure how they stack up on fuel mileage as compared to their fellow drivers, they seem to become motivated to become better, to drive more efficiently, to help conserve on fuel, either for the fleet or for themselves.
Is there a potential for EOBRs to drive efficiencies in our company?
There are huge opportunities for electronic on-board computers to drive efficiencies; efficiencies in particular around driver performance. Electronic on-board recorders can save drivers as much as an hour a day in terms of reduced paper work - twenty minutes alone in the elimination of the need to fill out their driver's log, and an additional 40 or so in reduced paper work relating to shipment related forms. For the same reasons, companies can expect to see the elimination of at least 2 hours a week of back office paper work.
How are electronic on-board recorders changing the way trucking companies do business?
What EOBR (electronic on-board recorders) are really doing three things. They are primarily making the trucking industry more compliant, especially as it relates to hours of service regulations. They really help to streamline a process that is ripe for inefficiencies and potential errors. By automating HOS compliance, you reduce both errors as well as the potential for non-compliance.
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