The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has opened a 30-day public comment period on its plans to survey more than 1,000 drivers and motor carriers for input on ways that drivers can potentially be harassed by the use of electronic logging devices.

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Pressure from federal safety regulations and the latest transportation bill is pushing more carriers to make the switch from paper driver logs to electronic logging through in-cab systems, according to fleets and vendors.

Both ATA and TCA support mandating devices that simply record hours-of-service status, but they do not support requiring fleets to purchase multifunction fleet management systems, which typically cost far more.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration wants to survey trucking to determine how it could prevent driver harassment when it issues a rule mandating electronic onboard recorders.

Let me understand you correctly: If a driver runs out of time 30 minutes from the yard and is on an electronic onboard recorder, “He either spends the night 20 miles from home or, more likely, breaks the law and comes to the yard anyway.”

I feel like I’m the only truck operator who believes the feds are trying to control every facet of my life. It’s not just that electronic onboard recorders or EOBRs or whatever you call them are an intrusive invasion into my company and our drivers’ lives.

Bill Graves, president of American Trucking Associations, urged the Department of Transportation to quickly begin a rulemaking process that would mandate electronic logging devices on all trucks.

If an amendment to block funding for an electronic onboard recorder mandate does not make it into law, its main sponsor, Rep. Jeff Landry (R-La.), said he is prepared to do whatever he can to stop the federal government from mandating such devices.