Would a federal requirement for “black boxes” — in-truck computers that function as electronic logbooks — sound the death knell for small trucking operations? Some think so.
The black box mandate as well as restrictions on drivers proposed in the government’s hours-of-service revisions would “put close to 37% of trucking companies out of business just to get to the few guys that run hot,” said David Owen, president of the National Association of Small Trucking Companies. That percentage represents virtually the entire small carrier sector of the industry, according to the Gallatin, Tenn.-based association.
But the feeling is not universal. Several carrier executives told Transport Topics they favored anything, including electronic logs, that would force competitors who run illegally to comply with the law.
“If the hours-recorder mandate curtails a lot of aberrant behavior by a lot of truckers, we’re for it. A lot of people don’t abide by hours of service,” said Tom Boyle of T.F. Boyle Transportation in Billerica, Mass. Boyle’s fleet hauls mostly explosives for the Department of Defense, which holds its carriers to particularly high standards of safety.
For the full story, see the June 26 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.
