The changeover from paper to electronic logs has been a challenge for the industry. It has been challenging for drivers, trucking companies, and our customers. We have been struggling to change from a whatever it takes philosophy to a this is all we can do reality. It is frustrating for everyone when 30 minutes from your destination becomes 10 hours and 30 minutes from your destination. Shippers have relied on drivers to "flex" our logs enough to make it happen. Now, their customers are upset when the frieght arrives late. With ELDs we can document exactly why their freight is late.
The industry is not just drivers, trucking companies and our customers. Law enforcement plays a critical role. They did not ask for all of this either. FMCSA did not ask for it either. It was forced upon all of this by congressional action. We all have to deal with it. None of us are the enemy. We are all part of the system.
I was listening to Mark Willis again the other day. It is a good trucking industry new and information show. Listen to it on the Road Dog Channel (146) weekdays from 13:00 - 15:00 central time. It is more objective than most shows and the guests are worth listening to.
This particular show had Collin Mooney as a guest. Mr. Mooney is the executive director of the Commercial Vehicle Safetry Alliance. Mooney was adept at giving objective answers without being caustic. Truckers were calling in with some tough questions. Mooney was trying not to weigh in with an opinion. Drivers were repeatedly aking him, his thoughts. Mooney was trying to just stick to the facts. We all faced the same madatory deadline of Dec. 18th. It did not go smootly for a lot of reasons. Now, we are facing a hard out of service date of April 1.
One driver called in with what I thought was a legit point. He had just had an inspection. The driver gave the inspector what the driver NEEDED to give him. The inspector wanted the driver to walk him through his device. The driver did not think that was right. After all we all faced the same deadline. I thought the driver had a good point.
At this point Mooney did not give a stock answer. He gave a logical one. Let me paraphrase. Mooney said that there are about 170 devices on the FMCSA list and it keeps growing. Drivers had to learn 1. What he said nest was perfect. It was old schol. It is a lot easier to get through an inspection if you cooperate with the inspector rather than antagonize them. Yup, I learned that a long time ago.