Dive Brief:
- With the implementation of the ELD mandate on December 18, truckers and law enforcement are now officially interacting on the matter, Overdrive reported Monday.
- While numerous drivers have been pulled over for lack of equipment, tickets are not yet being issued, even in those states where officer discretion determines action.
- In some cases, equipment has already been purchased and is awaiting driver training. April 1 marks the date when fines for non-compliance will be issued.
Dive Insight:
Though the ELD mandate is finally officially active, interactions between drivers and enforcers reveal mutual unpreparedness.
The road to ELD compliance has been pocked with inconsistency. From truckers citing hours of service parking flaws to the decision by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) to phase in enforcement rather than enact compliance all at once, it's been an uneasy process. Even as late as November, 60% of fleets with fewer than 100 trucks had yet to take action on training, let alone purchase ELD devices.
No doubt due to the slow transition, many rules remain uncertain, leaving enforcers scratching their heads. Some resorted to calls to headquarters; some merely acknowledged that the April deadline loomed.
As for large transport companies, a wait and see attitude prevailed. "At this point, it is too early to discern if there has been an immediate impact on capacity that can be directly attributed to the ELD mandate," Steve Raetz, Director of Research & Market intelligence at C.H. Robinson, told Supply Chain Dive. "Note that the capacity market is tight due to a wide variety of circumstances."
"We are keeping an eye on this and will likely be able to better assess impact once the mandate has been in effect a while longer and then also after enforcement comes into play in Q2 2018," he said.
