ELDs are a prime example that regulations don’t always equal safety

So many burdensome regulations on the trucking industry were placed in the name of safety, but what happens when subsequent stats reveal no improvement to safety at all? In the case of ELDs, that data keeps piling up.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Office of Analysis, Research and Technology presented numbers regarding fatal crashes involving large trucks. Yet again, those crashes increased in 2019 to 4,479 crashes. Fatal crashes involving trucks went up in 2018 and 2017 as well.

If ELDs were supposed to increase safety on the roadways, when is that supposed to begin? Based on the federal government’s own numbers, not only has that not happened but the situation is getting worse. Clearly, the ELD mandate did nothing to improve highway safety.

Adding all of these “safety” regulations to the trucking industry suggests the truckers are the problem. However, Bill Bannister from FMCSA’s Analysis Division provided more context that further proves that ELDs have done nothing to improve highway safety. According to a presentation by Bannister, more than 90% of truck drivers involved in fatal crashes during 2019 did not receive a moving violation.

Furthermore, truck drivers had no driver-related factors recorded more than two-thirds of the time. On the other hand, only 40% of passenger vehicle drivers had no factors cited to them. Given those facts, are trucks really to blame for the majority of crashes?

With each year passing since the advent of the ELD mandate, it becomes more clear and obvious that the regulation is a huge failure.

Some have reported more dangerous driving among truckers because of the ELDs. Specifically, truckers are racing against the clock that doesn’t spare them a single minute if they go over their hours. The ELD mandate needs to be repealed in the name of highway safety.

It does not stop there. Several federal lawmakers want to add even more regulations to truckers under the guise of highway safety. The conversation over speed limiters has once again been resurrected. Proponents say mandating speed limiters will improve highway safety. However, numerous studies show that large speed differentials between trucks and passenger vehicles leads to more interaction on the roadways – e.g., cars desperately trying to pass a slow-moving truck. Needless to say, these interactions can lead to more crashes.

Other proposals include increased insurance minimums and bigger, heavier trucks. Neither of those proposals will do anything to increase highway safety. In fact, they could decrease highway safety.

Some of the safest drivers on the road will not likely be able to afford premiums for minimum insurance coverage of $2 million, up from the current $750,000, as has been proposed.

Those drivers will jump ship, leaving only inexperienced drivers hauling for the mega carriers known to hand out CDLs like they are candy. Bigger and heavier trucks are more dangerous for obvious reasons.

The time has come for lawmakers and regulators to understand that an increase to the number and the rigidness of regulations doesn’t always lead to an increase in safety. LL