30-day Federal Register Notice Comment 0070

American Trucking Associations - Comments
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This is a Comment on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Notice: Agency
Information Collection Activities; Proposals, Submissions, and Approvals Driver and Carrier
Surveys Related to Electronic Onboard Recorders and Potential Harassment Deriving From
Use
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American Trucking Associations - Comments
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Driving Trucking’s Success

American Trucking Associations
950 N. Glebe Road, Suite 210, Arlington, VA 22203

June 27, 2013
Mr. Albert Alvarez
Office of Analysis, Research, and Technology
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE Washington, D.C. 20590
Via Regulations.gov
Re: FMCSA -2012-0309 Agency Information Collection Related to Electronic On-Board Recorders

Dear Mr. Alvarez:
I am writing in response to the notice and request for information entitled Agency Information
Collection Activities; New Information Collection Request; Driver and Carrier Surveys Related to
Electronic On-Board Recorders (EOBRs, and Potential Harassment Deriving From EOBR Use). 1
These comments are on behalf of the American Trucking Associations, the national trade association
of the trucking industry. ATA is a united federation of motor carriers, state trucking associations, and
national trucking conferences created to promote and protect the interests of the trucking industry. 2
ATA supports mandated use of electronic logging devices for recording drivers’ compliance with
Federal hours of service regulations. As mentioned in previous comments to the agency on this
matter, ATA also supports the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) plan to conduct
a survey on how electronic logging devices (ELDs) can be used to monitor productivity and their
potential use as a tool to harass drivers. However, we have some concerns with questions posed on
the survey instrument and associated materials. Addressing these concerns will help ensure a more
appropriate and effective survey.
Questions four, five, and fourteen on the survey instrument ask drivers to explain how they are paid.
These questions are irrelevant considering the purpose of the survey is to determine the extent to
which electronic logging devices could be used to harass drivers. ATA is aware that FMCSA may
have an interest in evaluating the role of pay mode in other contexts. However it is inappropriate for
the agency to use this information collection to gather data for some other purpose. Accordingly,
these questions should be removed from the survey.
A second concern is with respect to terminology used in the survey instrument. Throughout the
survey, associated documents, and the subject notice, FMCSA refers to electronic logging devices as
“EOBRs.” For example, question number nine includes the following statement: “Sometimes EOBRs
are a stand-alone unit; sometimes they are integrated into a system with a variety of functionalities.”
ATA believes that devices described as EOBRs are far more often perceived, and quite often
assumed, to be the latter. For that reason, recent legislation which calls for FMCSA to mandate
1

78 Federal Register, Number 102, 5/28/13, page 32001.
ATA’s membership includes more than 2,000 trucking companies and industry suppliers of equipment and services. Directly and indirectly
through its affiliated organizations, ATA encompasses over 34,000 companies and every type and class of motor carrier operation.
2

Comments of the American Trucking Associations
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adoption of devices to simply record hours of service (but do not necessarily include other
functionality) refers to them as “electronic logging devices (ELD).”
The use of the term ELD would be appropriate and beneficial in this context as well. Even
though FMCSA attempts to distinguish electronic logging devices from multi-function fleet
management systems in question number nine, the use of the term EOBR still may be
confusing to some. Because devices called EOBRs are often assumed to be capable of realtime tracking and two-way communication, use of the term to describe all systems that track
hours of service is confusing and is likely to generate unreliable survey results.
ATA understands and respects the need for this survey in order to gather data in support of a
future ELD mandate. Further, ATA urges FMCSA to conduct this research quickly in order to
speed completion of the rulemaking. These comments are not intended to hinder or delay the
process, but instead ensure that the information gathered in the survey is meaningful, reliable,
and relevant.
Regards,
Rob Abbott
Vice-President
Safety Policy