What is the ELD rule for truckers?

If you are like most people who live in North Carolina, when you hear or see a report giving an account of a motor vehicle accident involving a tractor-trailer or other very large commercial vehicle, you may want to better understand the cause of the incident. Concerns about safe operation of these big rigs is understandable as a crash in which they are involved can be horrific for pedestrians or people in normal-sized passenger vehicles which are much smaller than these trucks.

Fatigue has long been identified as a significant issue for truckers and combatting fatigue is why the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration enacted its Hours of Service rule a few years ago. This rule places caps on the number of hours truckers can drive each week and each day. The rule also outlines provisions for break periods. To encourage compliance with this rule, the FMCSA has also instituted its electronic logging device rule.

Most truckers now are required to use electronic logging devices which automatically detect and record data from a truck showing when it is in idle mode, when it is in motion, its location and more. The goal is to provide greater visibility into the hours truckers spend behind the wheel.

This information is not intended to provide legal advice but is instead meant to give residents in North Carolina an overview of the rules that truckers are supposed to comply with in an effort to improve safety on the roads and highways for truckers and for all other motorists and pedestrians.