ELD Violations and Severity Weights added to CSA system
posted in Alerts by Brian Gray
ELD Violations and Severity Weights added to CSA system
As of April 1st, and the full enforcement of the ELD Mandate, new ELD violations have been added to the Hours of Service Compliance BASIC category in the CSA program’s Safety Measurement System.
According to the FMCSA, “these violations are not being applied retroactively; violations recorded prior to April 1, 2018 will not be counted in SMS.” If the violation was issued before April 1 with a code that is something other than 395.22(a), such situated carriers may have ground for a DataQ system challenge to have the code changed to remove the violation from scoring in the system.
Motor carriers that have received ELD after April 1st will start seeing them reflected in their HOS Compliance BASIC in early May 2018 when the next monthly SMS results are released.
Important ELD Violations to Consider
If you have a “bring your own device” phone or tablet needs to be visibly mounted in a fixed position and be able to pull them out to show an enforcement inspector. If not mounted, drivers can receive a violations.
- 395.22G | Portable ELD not mounted in a fixed position and visible to driver
Easy ones are documents that are supposed to be in the truck:
- 395.22H1 | Driver failing to maintain ELD user’s manual
- 395.22H2 | Driver failing to maintain ELD instruction sheet
- 395.22H3 | Driver failed to maintain instruction sheet for ELD malfunction reporting requirements
- 395.22H4 | Driver failed to maintain supply of blank driver’s records of duty status graph-grids
Another big issue we are seeing pilling up with many clients are “unassigned logs”. This is when a driver is not logged into a truck when a truck has an ELD. The ELD will still measure the drive time the truck is moving and those unassigned logs need to be assigned to a driver or maintenance person. Some drivers are thinking this is a good way to get around the rules to go over drive time hours, so logs look fine. If they get into an inspection, the graph grid logs should “look fine”.
However, behind the scenes, that mileage is accumulated in unassigned driving. Also, the inspector is getting a full report that includes these unassigned logs, not just looking at your “graph grid” on your device. Inspectors will be asking who these unassigned logs belong to. As an owner-operator, you have no excuse, and if these logs include substantial miles, those will show up on a report and explain that “it was a mechanic testing my truck”.
Inspectors will then assign these logs as “false logs” and will be up to a $2,500 fine per false log.
- 395.32B | Driver failed to assume or decline unassigned driving time | Severity weight 5
We recommend that all Fleet Supervisor, Driver Managers, Fleet Managers, Safety Managers and Directors should print these off and give it to their fleet and place it in the trucks for all the drivers. Also, check out our latest webinar recording to get a full picture of what a post-April 1st ELD trucking world looks like and what is still coming.
