SAN DIEGO, Cal. — The Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) board agreed at its annual convention that it would support regulations mandating the use of electronic on-board recorders to track driver hours-of-service.

“We believe that this new policy is reflective of today’s operating environment,” said TCA president Chris Burruss. “The Board of Directors thought it was important that our members lead on this issue.”

The TCA developed a set of recommendations, including:

1. ELDs (electronic logging devices) requirements should be based on the minimal, functional, and performance specifications necessary to accurately record and report HOS compliance and assure reliability and utility of operation.
2. Except for HOS compliance data, statutory protections should be afforded to motor carriers pertaining to the control, ownership, and admissibility/discoverability of data generated and derived from ELDs, and to assure the privacy rights of drivers.
3. Drivers shall be responsible for operating ELDs in full compliance with all applicable regulations.
4. Any ELD regulation must address the operational diversity of the trucking industry, continue existing exceptions to the record of duty status, and consider additional exemptions that balance compliance and the evolving industry diversity.
5. Motor carriers using compliant ELDs should be relieved of the burden of retaining supporting documents for verification of driving time.
6. Any ELD mandate, if instituted, should be made simultaneously applicable to all vehicles of the affected population of motor carriers. It should avoid any implementation inequities identified and take measures to eliminate them.
7. Tax incentives should be pursued as a means to facilitate adoption of ELD systems.