What Are Some of the Advantages of ELDs?

Electronic logging devices may not have been welcomed with open arms by truckers and trucking companies, but as of December 18, 2017, eligible commercial vehicles were required to have ELDs on board or be judged to be noncompliant with the law. Of course, avoiding fines and other penalties by becoming compliant is one of the biggest advantages of using ELDs, there are other benefits that you may overlook. Here are some of the additional advantages of using ELDs for drivers and commercial transportation business owners alike.

Less Paperwork

Paper logs of driving Hours of Service may be familiar, but that doesn’t make them efficient. Because an ELD will log your hours of work and vehicle movements for you, you won’t have to complete any paper records or deal with storing those records for the future. Everything will be held on the device itself, which means far less paperwork for fleet managers and drivers. Most people are surprised at the amount of time they save when they can take that paperwork burden off their schedules.

Save on Fuel Costs

ELDs give business owners a great deal of insight into what is happening with their drivers on the road. With this information, you can track one of the biggest wastes of fuel: Idling. ELDs will let you see when a driver is idling more than other drivers and using an excessive amount of fuel, so you can take steps to address the issue.

Identifying Driver Behavior Issues

Being able to see how drivers are doing their jobs will also help you spot behavioral issues that could be putting your team and business at risk. Using ELDs, you can see patterns of speeding, hard cornering, and hard braking. This lets you retrain drivers who need additional support and remove chronic problem drivers from your team.

Do you need help becoming compliant with ELD regulations and auditing your ELD records? HDS Safety Services can help to alleviate your administrative burden and ensure you are always on the right side of DOT guidelines. For more information about ELD auditing in Tucson, call (520) 622-0419.