The volume of serious 395.8(a) log violations, which affect CSA scores, has increased following the Dec. 18 implementation of the electronic logging device mandate, when a lenient enforcement period was supposed to begin. FMCSA had requested that violations for no ELDs be encoded with a 49 CFR 395.22(a) violation code, thereby not impacting carrier CSA scores during the pre-April 1 soft enforcement.
The chart shows, however, that in the two weeks before Dec. 18, an average of 70.5 violations per day was written for 395.8(a). In the two weeks that followed, even with the reduced trucking and enforcement activity associated with the holiday week, and less-than-complete reporting at yearend, 88.2 violations were the average, a 25 percent increase. From Dec. 18 through Jan. 25, 2,842 violations were issued for 395.8(a) and 12,886 for 395.22(a).
Many of the 395.8(a) violations undoubtedly were written for the same reason they were prior to the mandate: Carriers simply weren’t keeping records of duty status. However, if you incurred a 395.8(a) prior to April 1 simply for not having an ELD record and you were keeping paper logs, challenge it through the FMCSA DataQs process to remove it from carrier records, watchers say.
