For the past 30 years, the NTSB has advocated the use of onboard data recorders to increase HOS compliance. In 1977, the NTSB issued its first recommendation on the use of these devices in response to the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) withdrawal of an advance notice of proposed rulemaking concerning the installation of tachographs in interstate buses. The NTSB first urged the FHWA to mandate the use of onboard recorders in its 1990 safety study, Fatigue, Alcohol, Drugs, and Medical Factors in Fatal-to-the-Driver Heavy Truck Crashes,(1) after concluding that onboard recording devices could provide a tamper-proof mechanism to enforce the HOS regulations. The study also found that the most frequently cited probable cause or factor in fatal-to-the-driver heavy truck accidents was fatigue (31 percent of 182 cases studied). The NTSB again advocated industrywide use of onboard recording devices after investigating a multiple-vehicle accident that occurred in Slinger, Wisconsin, on February 12, 1997.(2) The NTSB reiterated its position regarding the use of onboard recorders for HOS compliance in its August 12, 2001, response to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's (FMCSA's) notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on hours of service of drivers. In its response, the NTSB again requested that the FMCSA strongly consider mandatory use of EOBRs by all motor carriers to help improve HOS compliance. As a result of its investigation of a multiple-vehicle accident near Chelsea, Michigan, the NTSB requested that the FMCSA require the use of EOBRs by all motor carriers to more accurately collect and maintain data on driver HOS.
On January 18, 2007, the FMCSA published an NPRM on EOBRs that included a proposal to establish new performance standards for EOBRs. These performance standards would include requirements that the new devices be "valid" and "accurate" with certain defined parameters and that they be "secure" against non-evident tampering. Also under the proposal, motor carriers that have demonstrated a history of serious noncompliance (a 10 percent or greater violation rate) with the HOS rules would be subject to mandatory installation and use of EOBRs for HOS recordkeeping for a period of 2 years, unless the carrier already had equipped its vehicles with recording devices that met the agency's current requirements under 49 Code of Federal Regulations 395.15 and could demonstrate to the FMCSA that its drivers understood how to use the devices. Under the proposed rule, the FMCSA would also encourage industrywide use of EOBRs by providing the following incentives for motor carriers to voluntarily use EOBRs in their commercial motor vehicles (CMVs): (1) revising the agency's compliance review procedures to permit examination of a random sample of drivers' records of duty status and (2) providing partial relief from HOS supporting documents requirements, if certain conditions are satisfied.
The NTSB is concerned that the FMCSA has issued an NPRM on EOBRs that would require only those carriers with a history of serious HOS violations to install EOBRs in all of their CMVs; only an estimated 930 of the 700,000 carriers in operation would be affected by this requirement within the first 2 years of the rule's enforcement. The NTSB has expressed its concern that the only effective way for EOBRs to help stem HOS violations, which the NTSB has linked to numerous fatigue-related accidents, is to mandate EOBR installation and use by all operators subject to HOS regulations. EOBRs have the potential to efficiently and accurately collect and verify HOS for all drivers, to establish the proper incentives and a level playing field for compliance with HOS rules, and, ultimately, to make our highways safer for all drivers.
On November 10, 2008, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) sent a draft final rule on EOBRs to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. On January 20, 2009, the Executive Office of the President directed all federal agencies to withdraw rules that were under review, and the DOT withdrew the EOBR draft on January 23, 2009. On April 24, 2009, the FMCSA resubmitted the final rule for departmental clearance. The rulemaking was transmitted to the OMB on December 15, 2009, and is currently scheduled for publication in late March 2010.
The DOT Motorcoach Safety Action Plan, published on November 16, 2009, indicates that the FMCSA is considering the encouragement of industrywide use of EOBRs by providing incentives for motor carriers to voluntarily use EOBRs. The FMCSA is also beginning another rulemaking intended to propose a more widespread mandate of EOBRs, including mandating that all motorcoaches be equipped with EOBRs. Although the increasing scope of the carriers that would potentially be affected by EOBR rulemaking efforts is encouraging, the NTSB continues to believe that a mandate for the use of EOBRs by all motor carriers is necessary for the collection and maintenance of accurate data on driver HOS.
Continue efforts to require the use of EOBRs for all motor carriers to improve monitoring of driver HOS.
H-07-41 (FMCSA)
Issued December 17, 2007
Added to the Most Wanted List: 2008
Status: Open-Unacceptable Response
Require all interstate commercial vehicle carriers to use electronic onboard recorders that collect and maintain data concerning driver hours of service in a valid, accurate, and secure manner under all circumstances, including accident conditions, to enable the carriers and their regulators to monitor and assess hours-of-service compliance. (Source: National Transportation Safety Board, Investigation of the Rear-end Chain Reaction Collision on Interstate 94 East near Chelsea, Michigan, on July 16, 2004. [NTSB/HAB-07/01])
