This week, the ELD mandate comes into effect. Many fleets have realized that it can impact their business and have been working to ensure that the impact is all positive.
It’s about ensuring compliance and figuring out how to avail the multiple benefits of a fleet telematics solution. This way, besides having higher safety, the fleet is going to reduce its operational costs too.
Roadside Inspection: Avoiding Violations and Penalties
The CVSA held a 72-hour Roadcheck 2017. They inspected about 41,000 vehicles and placed nearly 20% of the CMVs (primarily due to brake-related violation) and about 5% (majority for HoS violation) of the drivers out of service.
While all the mandatory lamps not being in working order was the most common vehicle-related violation, HOS violations were the most common driver-related violation in the Roadcheck 2017. Two other violations that caused violations were wrong license class and falsified logbooks.
A fleet telematics solution installed by Azuga ensures that such violations do not occur. While the ELD logs the hours of service, the device will alert the driver and the fleet manager about the remaining hours. Vehicle maintenance is simplified because of regular diagnostic alerts, helping drivers avoid mechanical failure or breakdown during a trip. Many vehicles placed out of service in the Roadcheck would have likely passed with flying colors.
Ease of Inspection: Level 8 Wireless Roadside Inspection
The Level 8 roadside inspection is among the more recently introduced procedures. It is a wireless electronic inspection conducted while the truck is in motion. The examination covers the following data points.
- Driver’s license class and endorsement for the vehicle
- License status
- Record of Duty Status (RODS) of the current driver
- Skill Performance Evaluation (SPE) Certificate
- Medical Examiner’s Certificate
- Hours of Service compliance
- Unified Carrier Registration compliance
- A descriptive location including GPS coordinates
- Electronic validation of the vehicle’s operator
- USDOT number
- Power unit registration
- Federal out-of-service orders
- Operating authority
Compliance has become a challenge of attending to so many details, and ease of use is an essential factor for any ELD solution. As per a published FMCSA study, fleets that have deployed ELDs report an over 50% reduction in HOS-related violations. The same study showed a lower crash rate among drivers who are using electronic logs (nearly 12% lower).
Avoid Delays and Losses Through Eld Training
When implementing changes due to the ELD mandate, your company will need training for all its drivers as well as operations, maintenance, and dispatch staff. Azuga believes that you save time in the field when you invest time in training, and it is better to equip your teams with know-how rather than find and rectify errors.
Your operations, maintenance, and dispatch staff will need to understand how the ELD works, the reports it generates, and how to annotate the ELD record in case of any input error. Ideally, this instruction will allow your personnel to see and touch (hands-on training) and develop a physical familiarity with the device.
Drivers will need to get utterly conversant with how to log in, log out, and switch the device status between on-duty, off-duty, not driving, and sleeper berth. Where applicable, they should be able to indicate moving within the yard or personal conveyance.
Fleet Telematics – Avoid Penalties and Improve Revenues
Azuga eLogs DVIR enables a simple but effective process for paperless management of inspection reports and is compliant with FMCSA 396.11 and .13 regulations. It shows the complete report for roadside inspections.
- Promotes timely and accurate inspection of vehicles and trailers
- Latest defects and repair notes available in real-time for the vehicle combination
- Customizable defect lists speed documentation, increasing productivity
- The latest inspection reports are always available for review and roadside inspection
Here’s a speedy check of the potential ROI for a fleet from deploying our ELD and fleet telematics solution–fuel savings of up to 15%, reductions in unauthorized vehicle use of 12%, and productivity increases of 10%. These findings are from a survey covering tens of thousands of vehicles operated by Azuga’s customers.
Because our ELDs furnish precise information to a carrier on which of their customers typically tend to detain the fleet’s vehicles for longer, the carrier can assess the lost revenue. It will be able to negotiate better with that customer.
Azuga endeavors to be the most easy-to-use fleet telematics solution that helps businesses save money on fuel, repairs, and insurance; and simultaneously boost driver safety. Reviewers’ Choice from Software Advice, a Gartner (NYSE: IT) company, recently ranked Azuga Fleet as one of the top five fleet management providers based on user-generated ratings for its overall performance, ease of use, and customer service.
