Fleet-based businesses are constantly seeking ways to level up their efficiency, safety, and profits. Often, it can seem like these goals are at odds with each other. It can also seem like the rules your business needs to follow to stay compliant make reaching those goals more complicated than necessary.
Achieving electronic logging device (ELD) compliance can be difficult, but being compliant comes with some serious business perks. For example, implementing ELD compliance in your fleet-based business can not only help you avoid fines, but it can also help you reduce accidents and make operational efficiency skyrocket.
Today, let’s talk about ELD compliance. What is it, specifically? Why does your business need to be ELD compliant? And is there any recent mandate making it a legal requirement for you to have ELDs in your commercial vehicles?
Recently, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) passed a mandate requiring the use of ELDs in most commercial vehicles.
As their name suggests, ELDs are small onboard devices that automatically record the hours a driver is in active service—their hours of service (HOS)—a strictly regulated metric. In the past, drivers used traditional paper logbooks to record this data. This system wasn't ideal for many reasons, including the inaccuracy of self-reported data and the innate fragility of paper logbooks.
Today, these electronic logbooks make it easy to know exactly how long drivers have been working and to pull that data for use within your business. By holding drivers accountable to their HOS, ELDs can help reduce driver fatigue, keep businesses compliant, and ensure the quality of driver activity records.
More alert drivers and better records sound great, but let’s go a little further. What are some specific reasons that your business needs ELD compliance?
Here are four:
This helps you avoid hefty fines and legally keep operating your fleet. The alternative would quite literally be a nonstarter for your company.
ELDs help you ensure your drivers aren’t in service longer than they should be, which helps reduce dangers associated with distraction and fatigue. In addition, ELDs have features that promote safety by themselves, such as automatic recording capabilities, violation alerts, and the ability to connect fleet managers to real-time fleet data.
By providing you with immediately accessible data in helpful report formats, ELDs can help you reduce the amount of time you have to spend on paperwork. You can also conduct quicker inspections and payroll with the accurate information provided by ELDs.
Being FMCSA compliant and leveraging the efficiency and safety ELD compliance gives you can boost your reputation and give you the time needed to take on more jobs.
Now that we’ve discussed how good for your business being ELD compliant can be, let’s get into logistics. How will implementing these systems look for your employees and your company?
After your team gets used to this tech, you should experience nothing but benefits. For example:
And better yet, the team at ClearPathGPS is here to help you onboard successfully so you can enjoy these benefits as smoothly as possible.
Great ELDs have several features that make staying compliant with FMCSA regulations a piece of cake. For example:
We’ve saved one more benefit of ELD compliance for last because it’s one of our favorites: Implementing and using these devices can give you greater visibility into driver behavior and potential violations. This gives you multiple routes to a more smoothly operating business!
Interested in seeing how investing in ELD compliance can help you and your business? The experts at ClearPathGPS are ready to support you as you realize your compliance, efficiency, and profitability goals. Schedule a demo with us today, and, in the meantime, check out our helpful free download: Choosing ClearPathGPS as Your Fleet Management Solution Provider.