What will happen in situations where your electronic logging device documents an unavoidable violation? This could be driving beyond limits while looking for a parking spot in a congested area or moving from a parking place during an off-duty period when forced to by local law enforcement.
State and federal law enforcement officials urge drivers to practice blunt honesty, using annotations on duty statuses and status changes to explain the situation in detail. In many cases, officer leniency is likely to prevail.
Before e-logs, “getting the load there on time was the first priority,” said driver Bob Stanton, part of a panel convened by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration during the Great American Trucking Show in August 2017. Before, “you made your log look legal” only after that first priority was met, he said. Now, if there’s any chance you can’t get deliver within legal hours, you need to make the appropriate calculations well beforehand.
That seemingly simple change, however, is one that brings with it a raft of complications, from new administrative and operational burdens placed on drivers and carrier dispatch to the pressing need for shipper/receiver customers’ appreciation of the new dynamics.
Others at the GATS panel presented cases, including delays at shippers and receivers that exhaust on-duty hours. FMCSA enforcement specialist LaTonya Mimms noted officers will retain the discretion on whether to write a violation.
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