Mandate for On-Board Hours Recorders Pleases No One

There’s an adage in government that if you issue a rule and no one’s happy, you’ve done a good job. The Department of Transportation’s proposal that long-haul trucks be equipped with recorders that track driver hours will test that theory.

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Advocates on opposite sides are either complaining about issues of personal privacy and business cost or grousing that the proposal does not go far enough to prevent accidents.

The “black box” proposal, part of DOT’s massive rewrite of the hours-of-service regulations, would require all trucks that do not return to their home bases each night to be equipped with electronic event-data recording devices.

This also would do away with logbooks and their handwritten driver entries.

For the full story, see the May 1 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.