The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has published a proposal in the Federal Register the agency announced earlier that would require certain carriers to install electronic on-board recorders in all of their commercial vehicles, and others would be given incentives for voluntary use.
The information in the Federal Register includes estimated costs for the electronic systems and back-office support. Several system vendors, trucking associations, and carriers offered comments.
The proposed rule (49 CFR Parts 350, 385, 395, and 396), if mandated, would require carriers with a history of serious hours-of-service (HOS) violations to install the electronic recorders and use them for a minimum of two years. Voluntary incentives would include using a random sample of drivers’ records of duty status as part of a company compliance review and partial relief from hours-of-service (HOS) supporting document requirements.
The proposal was published January 18 and can be seen by clicking here.