Background Information (EOBR) « Electronic On-Board Recorders

Background Information (EOBR)

On this page you can learn more about key terms and concepts in the proposed EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) rule. Click on any of the links to learn more, including how regulation of each of these areas has developed.

Commercial Motor Vehicles (CMVCommercial Motor Vechicles) . In general, a CMV Commercial Motor Vechicles is ANY of the following vehicles that are used as part of a business and operate in interstate commerce:

Weighs at least 10,001 lbs. (or has a gross weight rating of at least 10,001 lbs.)
Is designed or used to transport 16 or more passengers (including the driver) not for compensation
Is designed or used to transport 9 or more passengers (including the driver) for compensation
Is transporting hazardous materials in an amount that requires a HazMat hazardous materials placard. For this category only, a vehicle that operates in-state is also included.

Hours of Service (HOSHours of service (Regulations issued by FMCSA that limit the number of daily and weekly hours a CMV driver may drive)) . The Hours-of-Service regulations (49 CFR Code of Federal Regulations Part 395) limit when and how long CMV Commercial Motor Vechicles drivers may be on-duty and drive without rest periods. They try to reduce accidents involving CMVs Commercial Motor Vehicles (vehicles owned or used by a business) by ensuring that truck and bus drivers get the necessary rest to perform safely. FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (The agency proposing the EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) rule) sets HOS Hours of service (Regulations issued by FMCSA that limit the number of daily and weekly hours a CMV driver may drive) limits based on research on the effects of fatigue; it works with organizations like the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies and the National Institute for Occupational Safety at the Centers for Disease Control. The HOS Hours of service (Regulations issued by FMCSA that limit the number of daily and weekly hours a CMV driver may drive) rules directly apply to CMV Commercial Motor Vechicles drivers in interstate commerce, but many States have identical or similar regulations for in-state traffic.

The current HOS Hours of service (Regulations issued by FMCSA that limit the number of daily and weekly hours a CMV driver may drive) limits are a bit complicated, and they depend on whether the CMV Commercial Motor Vechicles carries people (e.g., a motorbus) or property (e.g., a freight carrier), but basically a driver cannot exceed any of the following:

Property carriers:

14 consecutive hours of on-duty time, before being off-duty for 10 or more consecutive hours
11 total hours of driving time within the 14 hours
60 on-duty hours in 7 consecutive days (or 70 consecutive hours in 8 days for a company operating 7 days a week), before being off duty for 34 consecutive hours

People carriers:

15 hours of on-duty time, before being off-duty for 8 or more consecutive hours
10 total hours of driving time within the 15 hours
Same 60/7 or 70/8 limit as for property carriers

There are exceptions, including one for bad weather conditions. For more details, FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (The agency proposing the EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) rule) publishes two excellent, clearly written guides: Interstate Trucker’s Guide to Hours of Service and Interstate Passenger Carrying Driver’s Guide to Hours of Service.

Rulemaking to change HOS Hours of service (Regulations issued by FMCSA that limit the number of daily and weekly hours a CMV driver may drive) for property-carrying CMVs. On December 29, 2010 FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (The agency proposing the EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) rule) asked for public comment on a proposal to revise the HOS Hours of service (Regulations issued by FMCSA that limit the number of daily and weekly hours a CMV driver may drive) rules for property-carrying CMVs (That proposal would NOT involve passenger-carrying drivers). In general, the proposal would require more resting time. A chart comparing the current and proposed HOS Hours of service (Regulations issued by FMCSA that limit the number of daily and weekly hours a CMV driver may drive) rules, the complete proposal itself, and several supporting analyses are all available here.

FMCSA is taking comments on the new HOS Hours of service (Regulations issued by FMCSA that limit the number of daily and weekly hours a CMV driver may drive) proposal until February 28, 2011. You can’t use Regulation Room for those comments, but you can go to Regulations.gov and click on the Submit Comment button.

Record of Duty Status (RODSRecord of duty status (A logbook maintained by CMV drivers to track driving time (i.e., duty status) for each 24-hour period)) . The primary way that CMV Commercial Motor Vechicles drivers show they have complied with HOS Hours of service (Regulations issued by FMCSA that limit the number of daily and weekly hours a CMV driver may drive) rules is the Record of Duty Status (RODSRecord of duty status (A logbook maintained by CMV drivers to track driving time (i.e., duty status) for each 24-hour period)) . RODS Record of duty status (A logbook maintained by CMV drivers to track driving time (i.e., duty status) for each 24-hour period) has primarily been a self-reporting system (like filing income tax returns): while on-duty, drivers fill in paper logs with information about time, activity and location. You can see examples her (p.14). The driver must be able to produce his/her RODS Record of duty status (A logbook maintained by CMV drivers to track driving time (i.e., duty status) for each 24-hour period) at an inspection station or if stopped by state or local law enforcement officials. And the motor carrier A person providing motor vehicle transportation for compensation. The term includes a motor carrier’s agents, officers and employees is required to keep drivers’ RODS Record of duty status (A logbook maintained by CMV drivers to track driving time (i.e., duty status) for each 24-hour period) in case of on-site safety inspections.

To make the RODS Record of duty status (A logbook maintained by CMV drivers to track driving time (i.e., duty status) for each 24-hour period) system more reliable, drivers and carriers have been required to keep “supporting documents” to confirm what the driver recorded. (see below). But even with supporting documents, there is concern that drivers intentionally or accidentally don’t keep accurate RODS. The result is proposals, like this one, to replace paper logs with automated recorders.

Not all drivers who must follow HOS Hours of service (Regulations issued by FMCSA that limit the number of daily and weekly hours a CMV driver may drive) rules are required to keep RODS. Short haul generally, <150 mi. from base for property carriers drivers are allowed to use time cards (which contain less information and are less complicated to fill out) so long as they don’t exceed certain time and distance limits explained next.

Short Haul Drivers. Two groups of CMV Commercial Motor Vechicles drivers don’t have to use RODS, even though they must follow the HOS Hours of service (Regulations issued by FMCSA that limit the number of daily and weekly hours a CMV driver may drive) rules:

100 Air-Mile Radius – Section 395.1(e)(1).

A RODS Record of duty status (A logbook maintained by CMV drivers to track driving time (i.e., duty status) for each 24-hour period) isn’t required on any day when the CMV Commercial Motor Vechicles driver:

Stays within a 100 air-mile radius The distance in any one direction as measured on a map of his/her normal work reporting location,
Returns to that location and is off duty within 12 consecutive hours, and
Follows the 10-hour off-duty and 11-hour driving requirements.

Non-CDL Short-Haul – Section 395.1(e)(2)

A RODS Record of duty status (A logbook maintained by CMV drivers to track driving time (i.e., duty status) for each 24-hour period) isn’t required for a driver who drives a truck that does not require a special commercial driver’s license on any day when the driver

Stays within a 150 air-mile radius The distance in any one direction as measured on a map of normal work reporting location, and
Returns there each day.

So long as drivers stay within these limits, they only need a time card recording the time of reporting and being released and the total hours on duty. On days when they drive outside these limits, the driver must use a RODS.

Supporting Documents. The concept of supporting documents is pretty easy: CMV Commercial Motor Vechicles drivers collect a lot of receipts and other documents in the course of their normal duty routine. These documents could be used by both employers and enforcement officials to confirm entries in the RODS. However, keeping all these documents can add up to a lot of paper, especially for a carrier with many drivers. And the documents aren’t much use if they can’t be linked to specific drivers on specific days.

FMCSA has had a rule requiring supporting documents since 1982, but the rule didn’t define what documents carriers had to have. In 1993 FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (The agency proposing the EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) rule) published guidelines that were very broad, listing 30 different types of possible documents:

Supporting documents are the records of the motor carrier A person providing motor vehicle transportation for compensation. The term includes a motor carrier’s agents, officers and employees which are maintained in the ordinary course of business and used by the motor carrier A person providing motor vehicle transportation for compensation. The term includes a motor carrier’s agents, officers and employees to verify the information recorded on the driver’s record of duty status.

Examples are: bills of lading, carrier pros, freight bills, dispatch records, driver call-in records, gate record receipts, weight/scale tickets, fuel receipts, fuel billing statements, toll receipts, international registration plan receipts, international fuel tax agreement receipts, trip permits, port of entry receipts, cash advance receipts, delivery receipts, lumper receipts, interchange and inspection reports, lessor settlement sheets, over/short and damage reports, agricultural inspection reports, CVSA reports, accident reports, telephone billing statements, credit card receipts, driver fax reports, on-board computer reports, border crossing reports, custom declarations, traffic citations, overweight/oversize reports and citations, and/or other documents directly related to the motor carrier’s operation, which are retained by the motor carrier A person providing motor vehicle transportation for compensation. The term includes a motor carrier’s agents, officers and employees in connection with the operation of its transportation business.

A year later, the Hazardous Materials Transportation Authorization Act of 1994 (HMTAA) directed that HOS Hours of service (Regulations issued by FMCSA that limit the number of daily and weekly hours a CMV driver may drive) regulations be changed to increase compliance by drivers and carriers and to make federal and state enforcement more efficient and effective. Congress focused on supporting documents. The new regulations were supposed to specify the “number, type, and frequency of supporting documents” that drivers must have, and require carriers to retain them for at least 6 months. Over a series of rulemakings FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (The agency proposing the EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) rule) tried to accomplish this, but for various reasons couldn’t adopt a new final supporting documents regulation. For more details of this history, see the NPRM. In January 2010, an industry group filed a lawsuit to force FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (The agency proposing the EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) rule) to start a rulemaking on supporting documents. FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (The agency proposing the EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) rule) has decided to combine this with a proposal to require EOBRs.

HOS enforcement. Enforcement of the HOS Hours of service (Regulations issued by FMCSA that limit the number of daily and weekly hours a CMV driver may drive) rules is done by both federal safety officials and state and local law enforcement — any police officer may inspect a driver’s log book. States maintain weigh stations where drivers are pulled in for random vehicle inspections, but a driver may be pulled over for random checks by police officers or DOT Department of Transportation officials at any time. Drivers must have with them up-to-date, complete duty logs, and if inspection reveals any discrepancy, the driver may be put “out of service” until he/she has accumulated enough off-duty time to be back in compliance. Violations can result in fines from $1,000 to $11,000 and repeated violations will downgrade the motor carrier’s safety fitness rating. Also, FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (The agency proposing the EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) rule) safety inspectors can conduct an onsite review of the carrier, during which all the carrier’s HOS Hours of service (Regulations issued by FMCSA that limit the number of daily and weekly hours a CMV driver may drive) compliance data is examined. For more details, click here.

Electronic on-board recorders (EOBRsElectronic on-Board Recorders (Devices attached to commercial motor vehicles that track the number of hours drivers spend on the road)) , AOBRDs automatic onboard recording devices: earlier recorders w/o GPS capability and fleet A group of motor vehicles owned or leased by businesses or government agencies management systems (FMSfleet management system) . EOBRs are electronic devices capable of recording a driver’s hours of service Regulations issued by FMCSA that limit the number of daily and weekly hours a CMV driver may drive and duty status accurately and automatically. They display the information on a visual display in the CMV Commercial Motor Vechicles cab and can also download the information. AOBRDs (automatic on-board recording devicesearlier recorders w/o GPS capability) are the older, less complex version of EOBRs. They can record engine use, road speed, miles driven, the date, and time of day, but do not have the GPS Global positioning system (A space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information anywhere on Earth) capability to record location — so a complete duty log still requires the driver to fill in some information manually. Fleet management systems (FMSfleet management system) are used by large carriers and can perform a wide range of functions, including mobile communications, vehicle tracking and diagnostics, speed and fuel management, etc. Many FMS fleet management system are EOBR-ready, and FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (The agency proposing the EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) rule) does not know of an EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) currently manufactured that is not one capability of a more extensive FMS.

FMSCA’s current proposal focuses on EOBRs Electronic on-Board Recorders (Devices attached to commercial motor vehicles that track the number of hours drivers spend on the road) because they can automatically collect much of the information needed to monitor HOS Hours of service (Regulations issued by FMCSA that limit the number of daily and weekly hours a CMV driver may drive) compliance. To meet FMSCA requirements, an EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) must be able to record and display all of the following information:

Driver’s name and user ID on all EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) records associated with that driver (including records in which the driver serves as a co-driver);
Driver’s total hours of driving during each driving period and the current duty day;
Total hours on duty for the current duty day;
Total miles or kilometers of driving during each driving period and the current duty day;
Total hours on duty and driving time for the prior 7-consecutive-day period, including the current duty day;
Total hours on duty and driving time for the prior 8-consecutive-day period, including the current duty day;
Sequence of duty status for each day and the time of day and location for each change of duty status for each driver using the device;
EOBR serial number or other identification and identification number(s) of vehicle(s) operated that day;
Remarks, including fueling, waypoints, loading and unloading times, unusual situations, or violations;
Driver’s override of an automated duty status change to driving if using the vehicle for personal conveyance or for yard movement

In addition, the device

must not permit alteration or deletion of information collected concerning the driver’s HOS;
must be able to track total weekly on-duty and driving hours over a 7- or 8-day consecutive period;
must be able to record each driver’s duty status separately when there is a multiple-driver operation,
must identify annotations made to all records, the date and time the annotations were made, and the identity of the individual making them, and
must not overwrite the original contents of the record with the annotation.

Current FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (The agency proposing the EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) rule) technical specifications can be found here.

April 2010 EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) rule. In April, FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (The agency proposing the EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) rule) issued the first rule requiring the use of EOBRs. (It calls this the EOBR1 rule in some of its documents.) This rule focused on a narrow group of motor carriers: those whose drivers have a pattern of HOS Hours of service (Regulations issued by FMCSA that limit the number of daily and weekly hours a CMV driver may drive) violations. When a carrier is found to have an HOS Hours of service (Regulations issued by FMCSA that limit the number of daily and weekly hours a CMV driver may drive) violation rate of 10% or more, FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (The agency proposing the EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) rule) will issue an “EOBR remedial directive” requiring the carrier to install EOBRs Electronic on-Board Recorders (Devices attached to commercial motor vehicles that track the number of hours drivers spend on the road) in all of its CMVs. This rule will take effect June 4, 2010.

More important for the current EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) proposal, the April 2010 rule set new performance specifications for EOBRs. They can be found here.

Background Information (EOBR)

Share Comment on:

Reset Password:

To Comment: