The Financial Consequences of Not Complying with Electronic Driver Logbooks
For those who haven’t heard, Representative Brian Babin’s latest attempt to delay the electronic driver logbook compliance date has failed.
This was the second attempt by Representative Babin to push off the date of compliance. December 18, 2017, is now set in stone. Companies falling under the ELD mandate will need an electronic driver logbook solution by then.
Simultaneously, we now know what the financial consequences will be for not complying with the ELD mandate.
At What Cost?
The penalty for not having an electronic driver logbook solution in place by the compliance date will range from $1,100 (administrative minimum) to $11,000 (statutory maximum).
This violation is known as “Non-Recordkeeping –FMCSR.”
This information was pulled from the FMCSA’s UFA (Uniform Fine Assessment) calculation explanation. This document outlines the defining factors that go along with a citation and how severe it will be. What still requires clarification is what constitutes a subsequent violation of Non-Recordkeeping, or No Record of Duty Status. We will update this blog as soon as it is confirmed by the FMCSA.
There are four factors in determining violations.
1. Nature of the Violation
These are defined into categories like recordkeeping, non-recordkeeping, and commercial driver’s license.
2. Circumstances of the Violation
Circumstances are defined by the conditions, factors, and events accompanying the violation that could serve to increase or decrease the proposed penalty.
3. Extent of the Violation
The UFA looks at factors such as magnitude, scope, and frequency of the violations when evaluating the extent of a violation. UFA looks at whether the violations are isolated or widespread by looking at the number of violations discovered divided by the number of records checked for violations. The number is expressed as a percentage. High Extent is defined as 10% or higher, while Low Extent is 9% or less.
4. Gravity of the Violation
The gravity of a violation is determined by the relative seriousness of the violation. The gravity descriptions are divided into High Gravity, Medium Gravity, Low Gravity, and Contributing to Crash and/or HM (hazardous material/hazmat) incident.
High Gravity violations are the most serious violations that do not contribute to a crash and/or HM incident and defined as acute (FMCSRs, 49 CFR Part 385 can be referenced).
Medium Gravity violations are serious violations not contributing to a crash or HM incident and defined as critical(as defined in the FMCSRs, 49 CFR Part 385).
Low Gravity violations are all other violations that are assigned low gravity if they did not contribute to a crash or HM incident.
Contributing to a Crash and/or HM Incident is when the violation caused a crash or HM incident, then the highest severity point level is assigned. If the violation caused an HM incident which resulted in a serious injury, illness, or destruction of property, a maximum fine of $175,000 may be given, overriding all other factors otherwise considered by UFA.
