FMCSA Finds Few Cases of Fleet Harassment Among Truckers Who Use Electronic Logs

This story appears in the Nov. 24 print edition of Transport Topics.

A federal survey of truck drivers concluded that instances of carrier harassment are rare, and that drivers who use electronic logging devices generally are not subjected to harassment more frequently than those who use paper logs.

About 2% of truck drivers who use electronic logging devices have experienced a carrier interaction they considered to be harassment and associated with the use of ELDs, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s recently released driver survey.

“Attitudes toward ELDs are broadly positive with respect to reducing the burden associated with paper logging; however, there are still some drivers who feel that ELDs limit their independence and give management too much insight into their days,” the survey said.

FMCSA said the main purpose of the survey of 628 drivers — at 24 different truck stops — was to enable the agency to determine whether the mandatory use of ELDs could result in driver harassment. Drivers surveyed included 341 who used ELDs, 285 who used paper logs and two who used a tachograph.

They were given a list of 14 interactions between carriers and drivers that could be considered harassment.

Fewer than 30% of surveyed drivers considered any one of the 14 interactions to be harassment, while 42% said that none of the items on the list would be considered harassment.

The survey found that the actions most commonly considered harassment were: interrupting a driver’s off-duty time with a message; asking a driver to operate a vehicle even though he judged himself to be fatigued; and asking the driver to log hours inaccurately to get more work time or to delay a break.

Drivers who use ELDs were more likely:

• To be paid for customer delays when picking up or delivering freight at least once per month.

• To be required to wait between loads for more than two hours without pay at least once per month.

• To be interrupted when off-duty at an inappropriate time at least once per month.

• To experience management asking customers to adjust load schedules so they were more realistic for the driver at least twice per month.

“The evidence in this survey research does not support concluding that harassment occurs due to being in a situation where hours of service are logged using electronic logging devices,” the survey said.

The survey was taken after an appeals court in August 2011 revoked FMCSA’s February 2011 proposed ELD rule. The court chided the agency for not including language in the rule that ensured drivers would not be harassed as a result of using ELDs.

FMCSA issued a supplemental proposed rule in March, and plans to issue a final rule in September 2015.

Reactions to the study were mixed, and especially skeptical about whether ELDs improve highway safety.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association — the group that first raised the potential for driver harassment in the 2011 lawsuit — said the group has “serious concerns” about the limitation of the study.

“FMCSA failed to address the safety impacts of harassment or provide evidence of any safety benefits of ELDs,” an OOIDA spokeswoman said. “According to the data in this study, mandated ELDs could mean nearly 300,000 truck drivers would experience harassment issues on a regular basis. We disagree with FMCSA’s conclusion that this is a neglig-ible consequence.”

However, Rob Abbott, vice president of safety policy for American Trucking Associations, said, “What the study says effectively is that drivers on ELDs generally aren’t treated any differently than drivers with paper logs. We believe that this research will be helpful for the agency to deflect claims that the devices are used to harass drivers.”