Panel May Postpone 2012 EOBR Mandate

A plan by federal regulators to issue a final electronic onboard recorder mandate in June 2012 potentially could be delayed because an advisory committee may not be able to resolve technical issues until the end of this year, the chairman of the group said.

Racing to meet an Aug. 31 deadline, the Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee last week ended a second round of meetings with the realization they will need more time to hire additional experts to help determine the best ways to transmit hours-of-service data from the truck cab to law enforcement laptop computers using peer-to-peer and telematics approaches.

David Parker, MCSAC chairman, told Transport Topics after the meetings last week that some of the committee’s critical recommendations likely will not be decided until December.

Although Parker said the committee likely would complete its recommendations on many of the EOBR issues during its meeting planned for Aug. 29-31, he said it was premature to say for sure if the committee would recommend that FMCSA push back its June 2012 target.

“We’re reserving comment on that until we get the rest of the information,” said Parker, who is senior general counsel for Great West Casualty Co. “But would a reasonable person say that there will probably be a recommendation to make some adjustments going forward? Certainly.”

The committee reports directly to Anne Ferro, head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Besides the transmission of HOS data, other technical issues include how to program EOBRs to account for drivers’ personal time or incidental truck moves, as well as ensuring the security of the data.

“Given the likelihood of us facing and looking at some changes to the software and their stipulation that they would need 12 months of lead time, I think it’s likely that we’ll see a delay in that June 2012 date,” said Rob Abbott, a MCSAC member and vice president of safety policy for American Trucking Associations.

The advisory committee will ultimately need to decide whether to recommend that carriers be required to have on-board printers to provide law enforcement with paper records for HOS compliance, or in the event of an EOBR failure or when Internet connectivity is not available.

In its EOBR proposal issued in January, FMCSA said it planned to issue its final rule in June 2012, which is also the planned date for all non-compliant HOS carriers to install EOBRs. All other interstate carriers will be given an additional three years to comply after the rule becomes final.

Another issue that could contribute to a delay is the fact that EOBR manufacturers have suggested to the committee that it will take a year to develop and employ software program changes — and more than a year to deal with hardware issues.

The MCSAC is comprised of motor carriers, law enforcement officers, and safety advocates — with assistance from several EOBR manufacturers.

One of the more contentious issues at their meetings has centered on whether the federal government, motor carriers or law enforcement has the burden for ensuring that every law enforcement officer has the capability to review HOS data.

Stephen Keppler, executive director of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, told the committee it should be sensitive to the fact that resources such as laptop computers and other technologies are not currently available to all 12,000 CVSA-certified inspectors across the United States.

Even less contentious issues like how to program EOBRs to allow drivers to record their personal conveyance time took hours for the committee to resolve.

On that issue, a subcommittee recommended that drivers be permitted to travel up to 50 miles within a 24-hour cycle for personal reasons, such as traveling to a restaurant during off-duty time.

A subcommittee also concluded that the MCSAC should recommend that truckers be permitted short or “incidental moves” of up to two miles after being stopped for five minutes or more that would not be attributed to driving time.

Incidental moves can range from being directed by a police officer to move off an interstate ramp or moving at a truck stop from a noisy area that is disturbing a driver’s sleep.