As you may have heard already, the FMCSA and the U.S. will begin enforcing the Electronic Logging Device (ELD) mandate requirements after Dec. 18, 2017. That being said, the question on everyone’s mind is – will the penalties be immediate?
The good news is that the out-of-service criteria (OOSC) associated with the ELD mandate will only go into effect on April 1, 2018. However, what will happen in the meantime?
FMCSA congressionally mandated ELD compliance deadline is still Dec. 18, 2017. As of that date, inspectors and other roadside enforcement personnel will start documenting violations on roadside inspection reports and, at the inspector’s discretion, will issue citations to commercial motor vehicle drivers and/or motor carriers operating vehicles without a compliant ELD. The citation will be a “no points cite” that will not affect the Safety Measurement System that feeds into CSA (Compliance, Safety, Accountability) scores up until April 1, 2018.
Beginning April 1, 2018, however, inspectors will start placing commercial motor vehicle drivers out of service if their vehicle is not equipped with the required device. Please note that a motor carrier may continue to use a grandfathered automatic onboard recording device (AOBRD) until Dec. 16, 2019, but it must meet the requirements of 49 C.F.R. 395.15.
This does not impact enforcement of the CVSA OOSC for other hours-of-service violations.
Setting the April 1, 2018 date for applying the ELD OOSC was designed to provide the motor carrier industry, shippers, and the roadside enforcement community with time to adjust to the new regulation and to promote a smoother transition to the mandated requirements.
For more information about the ELD rule, visit FMCSA’s ELD implementation website.
