FMCSA Is Increasing Use of GPS Logs for HOS Audits, Qualcomm Exec Says
By Dan Leone, Staff Reporter
This article appears in the Sept. 21 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is increasing its use of Global Positioning System history logs as supporting evidence in driver hours-of-service audits, an executive with Qualcomm Inc. said last week.
Norm Ellis, Qualcomm’s vice president and general manager for transportation and logistics, said the company had “seen an uptick” in FMCSA’s use of electronic data in enforcement actions.
Electronic data, such as the position logs generated by GPS-based tracking systems and electronic onboard recorders, have been used by FMCSA since December, when it lifted a more than decade-old moratorium on using electronic data to verify hours. The agency now requires carriers using GPS tracking and EOBRs to retain data generated by these systems for six months.
FMCSA did not return calls to Transport Topics last week seeking comment. However, Ellis said the agency has increased its reliance on electronic records because carriers have had time since the policy change to accrue and store the electronic data.
Ellis spoke during a Sept. 16 webinar. Attendees included Qualcomm’s trucking customers, who were allowed to ask questions about their systems and record retention policies without disclosing their affiliation to other participants.
Ellis said the majority of Qualcomm’s customers had 14-day data retention periods — prior to the FMCSA policy change — because it was the factory default setting.
To help subscribers comply with FMCSA policy, the San Diego telematics provider said it is allowing carriers to extend the period for which Qualcomm retains backup data to six months at no additional cost.
Carriers using Qualcomm’s newer hours-of-service software, designed to comply with the new FMCSA mandate, need not make any changes to the data retention policies, Ellis said.
Also during the webinar, Ellis said many questions remain about electronic record retention, including the kinds of data that might be considered “electronic records” under current FMCSA policy.
Through a Qualcomm mediator, one carrier asked whether trucking companies are now required to retain records of so-called critical events, such as speeding and hard-braking, that are captured through Qualcomm’s onboard systems and reported to driver managers.
“That’s a very good question,” Ellis said. “I guess we don’t know.” He added that Qualcomm still was investigating the precise definition of an electronic record.
American Trucking Associations has criticized FMCSA for failing to create an explicit definition of HOS supporting documents.
“We have had two meetings with FMCSA about the need for a rulemaking,” said ATA spokesman Clayton Boyce. “We are considering several options to compel the agency to meet the statutory mandate.”
ATA met with FMCSA officials twice this year to discuss HOS supporting documents. The most re-cent meeting was held this month,Boyce said.
“We have asked FMCSA for guidance on what their policy covers,” Boyce said. “Thus far, FMCSA has chosen not to issue any.”
“The agency has identified the need for guidance for enforcement staff and will continue to work to address the concerns of the industry,” FMCSA told Qualcomm in a June letter that the company subsequently posted on a Web site dedicated to the records retention policy.
In the same letter, the agency shot down Qualcomm’s recommendation for a grace period to allow carriers to set up six-month record-retention systems.
“The agency does not believe it is necessary to give motor carriers a grace period . . . since the use of GPS has not been mandated,” FMCSA wrote.
FMCSA added that even carriers that do not use GPS data “specifically for hours of service” still could be required to furnish the agency with such data because the information is acquired “during the course of normal business.”
Meanwhile at PeopleNet, a Chaska, Minn., provider of EOBR and other systems, Chief Operating Officer Brian McLaughlin said that because of the FMCSA rule change, “we have had several customers call with concerns, but overall, the reaction has been tempered.”
A PeopleNet spokeswoman said the company has had a six-month data retention policy since “well before December 2008.”
As with competitor Qualcomm, PeopleNet stores copies of electronic data generated by its truck-based systems at company data centers as a fail-safe for its subscribers.
