Owner-operator seeks ELD exemption

As a one-truck owner-operator with thin margins, Arbert Ibraimi believes there are better ways to spend his money than on an electronic logging device.

That’s why the fledgling owner-operator is asking the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for a one-year exemption from the ELD mandate. Instead of an ELD, Ibraimi’s company, GTLM Transport, would use paper logs to track his hours of service.

“Since this is a one-man operation with limited funds, the funds could be better invested in a safety management control system that the company would benefit more from in its beginning stages,” Ibraimi wrote in his application for exemption.

FMCSA announced Ibraimi’s request in a notice that is scheduled to publish in the Federal Register on Friday, March 1.

“The applicant requests to use paper logs instead of an ELD for 12 months and asserts that because he is a new business operating as an owner-operator, he cannot afford an ELD,” FMCSA wrote in the notice.

Opposition to ELDs

Since December 2017, most truckers have been required to use ELDs to track their hours of service.

Truck drivers largely opposed the mandate and argued that the additional expense would not improve safety. Since the start of the requirement, many truckers have complained that ELDs create additional pressure to find a safe parking place and get stopped before their clock runs out. Instead of the 15-minute increments allowed on the paper logs, ELDs track drivers down to the second.

The crash numbers have done little to demonstrate any safety benefits created by the ELD mandate. There were 3,622 and 4,177 fatal crashes involving large trucks in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Every full year of the ELD mandate has had at least 4,400 fatal crashes involving large trucks. In 2021 – the most recent stats from FMCSA – there were 5,149.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which represents small-business truckers, has repeatedly told FMCSA there is no evidence that ELDs have improved safety.

“Our members have vigorously opposed the ELD mandate since its inception,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer wrote to the agency in 2022. “There was never sufficient research indicating the mandate would improve highway safety, and the agency still lacks data demonstrating any positive safety results since its full implementation.”

How to comment

Once Ibraimi’s exemption request is published in the Federal Register, the public will have 30 days to comment.

To do so, go to Regulations.gov and enter Docket No. FMCSA-2023-0244. LL