The trucking and transport industry is planning for a major overhaul due to new EOBR laws. While the bill for new logbook requirements and drivers’ records is determined to go into full affect by 2015, the kinks of the chain still need to be worked out. Drivers, business owners and EOBR manufacturers each have their own special interest in the program. Additionally, these different factions have their own opinions, which make for an interesting conversation regarding the proposed law.

The 800-Pound Elephant

Drivers in the transportation industry are notorious for fudging log books so they are able to be in compliance upon delivery. Why has this blatant falsifying been permitted to go on for so long? Wasted time spent at poorly run facilities on both the shipping and receiving end. According to Kevin Mullen, Director of Safety, Human Resources and Recruiting for ADS Logistics Co. LLC in Transport Topics, “We wink and ignore it. Rates don’t adequately reflect the real worth of our drivers and equipment and are artificially depressed by this continuing logging phenomenon.” As a result, drivers anticipate their rates and time to be severely fringed upon following the implementation of EOBRs. While these new laws are going to completely change the lives’ of truck drivers across America, and with idealistic positive intentions, truckers are concerned that the laws are going to push them out of their driver’s seat.

Show Me the Money

Manufacturers of EOBRs are pushing for the implementation of EOBRs immediately. The reasoning? As noted in Fleet Owner, “EOBRs not only reduce the time drivers spend updating their logbooks – some 15 to 30 minutes per day – they eliminate the cost of paper forms and the clerical work required to file paper logbooks for six months, as well as the clerical work required to meet a DOT audit of logbook records,” according to John Gaither, the Senior Sales Executive and Engineer for Technology Provider at GPS Insight. Companies such as GPS Insight are certainly going to consider the new EOBR laws as a boon, both in their business efforts and to the trucking industry. Yet the question remains: how to maintain the clear divide between the truck drivers and the EOBR manufacturers?

The Gap in the EOBR Ideals

The idea is that the typical driver log should be transformed immediately to EOBRs to become compliant for a law that will not be fully in effect until 2015 triggers multiple emotions. Drivers, on one hand, are notably and understandably adamant that the EOBRs will bring down their hourly rates and thereby drive them out of a job. Additionally, drivers who are technologically challenged are sure to have misgivings toward using a computerized device for tracking their mileage. The manufacturers of EOBRs see this issue as a blessing to their marketplace. If, or rather when, the laws come into fruition, these manufacturers will see skyrocketing profits due to the implementation of these mandatory devices. The goal of business owners, then, is to note both sides of the issue so they are aware of the reasoning on both sides of the table. While transport owners work with drivers every day, and these workers are their bread and butter, it is essential that owners understand the legal issues pertaining to EOBRs. This grants business owners the opportunity to build a bridge between the drivers and manufacturers.