Kansas City Star: When a trucker goes missing, other drivers join the search

By Tony Rizzo

The road is long and the country is big.

And on any given day an estimated 3 million over-the-road truckers are traversing the nation’s highways.

When one of those truckers turns up missing, finding them can be like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack.

“It’s a challenge because of the nature of their job they could be just about anywhere,” said Norita Taylor, spokeswoman for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association.

That’s where the Missing Truck Driver Alert Network comes in.

Much like the Amber Alert system for missing children and the Silver Alert system for older adults, the network strives to quickly spread the word by Facebook and email whenever a driver is reported missing.

It happens more than most people realize, said Lisa Wells, one of the administrators of the network, which is based in Colorado.

The network averages two to three missing trucker reports every month, she said. So far this year, seven missing driver reports have been made.

She said that about half of the time, the drivers are found safe.

That was the case last Monday in northwest Missouri when a Texas driver’s truck was found abandoned outside of Lathrop. His wallet, cell phone and other personal items were found in the truck.

The network posted information about the driver and links to news stories about him.

The next day, he was found safe at a motel in Cameron, and the network updated its site with word that he was OK.

But in another local case broadcast by the network, the outcome was tragic.

Last October, an Arizona driver’s truck was found unoccupied in a parking lot near Shawnee Mission Parkway and Antioch Road in Merriam.

The whereabouts of 53-year-old Lawrence Muirhead remained a mystery until February, when his body was discovered inside a freezer in a garage behind a Kansas City, Kan., house.

Kansas City, Kan., police are continuing to investigate and said this week that no arrests have been made.

While authorities have not said whether they know why Muirhead’s truck was parked where it was found, trucking industry advocates say it could highlight one of the most serious problems affecting driver safety: The lack of safe parking.

“There is a severe shortage,” said Hope Rivenburg, the wife of a New York driver who was murdered in 2009. “It’s a huge problem that’s growing.”

Space at well-lighted truck stops and highway rest stops fills up quickly, and criminals perceive truck drivers as easy targets, she said.

Her husband, Jason Rivenburg, had parked his truck at an abandoned gas station in South Carolina when he was robbed of the $7 in his wallet and killed.

Since then, Hope Rivenburg has successfully pushed for federal legislation to address the truck parking issue. “Jason’s Law” has been adopted as part of federal highway legislation to provide increased safe parking opportunities for truckers.

As part of the effort, Rivenburg’s organization conducted a survey of about 4,000 drivers to determine which areas of the country have the greatest need. Missouri was one of 23 states identified as those in need of the most improvement.

The nationwide survey also found that 39 percent of the time drivers reported that it took them more than hour to find a place to park. And 88 percent of the drivers reported feeling unsafe at times while working during the past year.

Kari Fisher, the wife of a Colorado truck driver, started the Missing Trucker Driver Alert Network in February 2012 after the wife of a missing driver turned to social media to publicize his disappearance.

Fisher was not available to comment because she on the road, but Wells said Fisher realized it was a needed service.

Dawn Miller discovered that last Labor Day weekend when her truck driver brother-in-law, Maurice Weller, went missing. Family members of the Colorado-based driver discovered the network, which worked with the family throughout the ordeal.

“They did so much for our family,” she said. “They answered all of our questions.”

Another truck driver who saw information about Weller’s disappearance on the network spotted his truck about three weeks later at a truck stop in Tennessee.

Sadly, he was found dead of natural causes.

But for Miller, the work the network did for the family prompted her to join it as an administrator.

“It means the world to know that someone is there for you,” she said. “They were there for us from the start.”

Before the network, Taylor from the independent drivers association said, there was no good way for information about missing drivers to be disseminated before Fisher started the network.

“We have been very supportive of her and praise her in trying to do something to fill in that gap,” Taylor said.

CCJ: Con-way uses technology, peer-based coaching to drive safety results

By Aaron Huff

On a poster in the dispatch area of Con-way’s Salt Lake City service center is a handwritten announcement: March 14, 2014, is a day for celebration. The service center, among the largest in Con-way’s nationwide less-than-truckload network, has gone 15 days without accident or injury.

It’s been six months since the last 15-day streak, which is a big achievement for an operation this size, explains Brian Ressa, assistant manager at the service center with 185 employees, 86 trucks and operations that span 24 hours a day, six days a week.

Technology has played a major role in the success at this and other locations for Con-way which has a total fleet size of 15,000 drivers and 8,600 tractors.

In late 2009, the company completed a fleet-wide deployment of three “sense and alert” safety systems that consist of lane departure warning, collision avoidance and rollover stability control.

Last year, Con-way expanded its safety investment with two additional technologies. One is a real-time, on-board performance management system. The other is an event recorder that drivers often refer to as a “dash cam.”

The recorder is a compact, windshield-mounted unit that records activity inside and outside the cab. The recording is continuously erased unless the unit is triggered by an event such as hard braking, turning or rapid deceleration. When activated, the unit saves a 12-second audio and visual recording— eight seconds before and four seconds after the event.

With the addition of these two products, Con-way has created what it calls Drive Safe Systems. The number one reason for investing in the technology is to make sure all employees make it home safely each day, says Tom Clark, senior vice president of operations.

“That’s the reason why we continue to invest in systems that affect people. By giving us greater data, we can go back and coach drivers to prevent a defect from re-occurring and help to improve their overall safety performance.”

The plan in action

Every morning at about 5:00, Jack Malloy enters an office to the side of the main dispatch area in the Salt Lake City service center. The work he does helps reduce accidents and injuries and improve fuel efficiency.

Malloy has been driving for Con-way for 20 years. Three years ago he became a driver trainer, a job that he performs in addition to making daily pickup and deliveries. Last October, his job changed significantly with the rollout of Drive Safe Systems.

Con-way made a strategic decision to use its most safe and experienced drivers to coach other drivers using the data it receives through the on-board performance system and event recorder.

When an incident occurs, such as rapid deceleration or “hard braking,” Malloy sees the event through an online management portal. He then notifies the driver’s manager to schedule a face-to-face coaching session. Malloy says he usually talks to drivers within two days of an incident.

Data is shared with drivers in the context of the Smith system of driving behaviors. Once the incident is discussed and training given, the driver commits to improvement and “we move on,” Clark says.

The coaching sessions don’t always go smoothly. Sometimes drivers get defensive in these situations, Malloy says, but having a peer-to-peer discussion with a trainer certainly helps.

“Sometimes drivers are against new policies. They think corporations are after ‘poor little me,’” Malloy says. “We disengage that tension so drivers are able to be coached and understand the situation. We’re all peers.”

Malloy showed this CCJ editor an example of what a coaching session involves. The week prior, a driver had an event that was given a “5? on a severity scale of 10. The driver rolled through a stop sign.

The event recorder, known as DriveCam powered by Lytx, was likely triggered by an uneven road surface and lateral movement of the vehicle, Malloy says. When a behavior analyst at Lytx reviewed the incident, the severity rating was assigned to the event and made available for Malloy to review.

This particular driver has been with Con-way for three years. During the coaching session, the driver was eager to be the best and one day be among the Con-way drivers with three million safe miles, Malloy says.

“He wants to be one of those and is willing to change anything he needs to change to become one of them.”

The event recorder also gives Malloy opportunities to recognize drivers for defensive driving skills. Before having the technology, management never saw what drivers had done to avoid an accident, he says.

Six months ago, Malloy was meeting with drivers about 12 times per day to review incidents. The number of incidents have since dropped to about one to three per week.

Monitoring performance

Before Con-way used the on-board performance management system from Vnomics, drivers did not know what they were getting for mpg. The only people in the company who knew were mechanics who downloaded engine data when trucks came in for service.

The Vnomics system gives instant feedback for fuel efficiency. When drivers exceed 1,500 RPM the device emits a beep that sounds similar to grinding gears, prompting the driver to shift and bring the RPM down.

When drivers come to a stop, a “shift efficiency” score appears on the display along with a color-coded, vertical bar chart that shows the percentage of time drivers shifted in the “good,” “acceptable,” and “poor” range.

“Most drivers use it as a game during the day,” Clark says. “If they do not hear any sound, or alert, they are going to have a great score at the end of day.”

Since Con-way began using the Vnomics system, the fleet has reduced its fuel consumption by four percent, Malloy says. The Salt Lake City service center displays weekly progress in a number of fuel efficiency metrics on a scoreboard in the dispatch area. The average shift score is in the high 80s.

TheTrucker.com: Trucker Ryan Mahony balances love of adventure behind the wheel, in the saddle

By Aprille Hanson

Ask Ryan Mahony why he came to the United States from his native England and the answer will be quick — complete with a sly grin and a glint in his eyes.

“Adventure,” he told The Trucker at the Petro truck stop in North Little Rock, Ark., in mid-February.

But adventure doesn’t stop for this 39-yearold trucker behind the wheel of his big rig.

Mahony, 39, has been trucking for 14 years, both in England and the U.S. He lives in Fort Smith, Ark., with his wife, two young daughters … and eight dogs, two goats, two ponies and 12 horses. He and his wife of 10 years Karen own River Valley Equestrian Center, Van Buren, Ark. They train horses, teach between 20 to 30 clients currently and compete in equestrian competitions.

“I compete in about 10 shows a year, I have two girls that do it too,” his 8-year-old daughter Cheralyne and his “very precocious” 5- year-old Makeayla.

Mahony, who is a certified British Horse Society instructor, said, “I drive a truck to support” their horse business.

Mahony said he’s been riding horses ever since he was a little boy growing up in England.

“They’re high maintenance,” Mahony said of the horses, and the time it takes to train them “depends on how smart the horse is.”

And when a horse doesn’t want to jump, he or she doesn’t. Case in point: Penny, a four-year-old Chestnut mare who last January stopped short of a jump with Mahony on her back.

“She fell back on top of me,” Mahony said, adding he couldn’t walk for two months due to the back injury. “I had major compression fractures. … The doctor said it was like a Volkswagen Beetle hitting you at 35 miles an hour.”

But with a chipper tone, Mahony added that Penny “got better” in terms of training.

“You never stop training a horse,” Mahony said. “They are like sponges, constantly learning new things.”

If anyone is wondering how Mahony balances life out on the road, training horses and raising a family, his answer is simple, “I don’t.” At least not perfectly, but Mahony said he enjoys being able to travel, compete and be involved along with his family in several horse organizations like the Northwest Arkansas Hunter Jumper Association and the United States Equestrian Federation.

“[I enjoy] just the exercise, to get out of the truck basically. Something to go home and look forward too,” Mahony said. “I think everybody should have to do some sort of physical activity.”

While horseback riding and training was learned from a young age, trucking was a new adventure that started when he was just 18.

“Training is six months to a year … there are multiple tests,” Mahony said of driver training in England. “Over here you can just go to school” and be out on the road fairly quick in comparison.

“In England, you’re not allowed to run on Sundays,” he said. “It’s kind of a respected career … they [the general public] know everything goes by trucks and it indirectly affects you. Here, they just see a big bad truck going down the road.”

He came to the United States in the early 1990s.

“I liked to travel … it was the land of opportunity,” Mahony said. “You can make some really good money, but you have to treat it [trucking] like a business.”

An owner-operator for Landstar, Mahony drives a 2008 Kenworth T-660, and has seen too many close calls on the roadways, including a few months ago during winter weather in Texas.

“I was on I-40 and it was a sheet of ice and windy. The wind just took this driver’s trailer” and the cab sideways. Mahony checked on the driver after their trucks were safely out of traffic.

“He was just shaking,” Mahony said. “I gave him an energy drink to get his sugar up and he went up to the nearest truck stop.” While trucking rules and regulations are stricter in England, the ones here are no picnic, he said.

With the new Hours of Service rule, “the industry won’t cope with that,” he said. “It hurts the drivers bad. Less home time, less money … Before July 31, they should’ve left them alone.”

Though a solo driver, in the last two months he’s had a furry, long-eared trucking partner riding shotgun. Raider, an English Cocker Spaniel, was as calm as could be sitting up in the cab of the truck, looking down on his owner from the window.

Mahony adopted the 9-month-old pup from a shelter in Dallas after seeing a photo of him from ilovecockerspaniels.net.

“I think it’s great to have a dog on the road for exercise,” Mahony said. “He’ll just sit beside me all day long, he’s a great companion.[At home], he runs around and chases the horses.”
But he cautions truckers considering a road pet to research before adopting.

“Do your homework, it has to be the right pet,” Mahony said, adding he’s seen too many dogs abandoned at truck stops. “It is a shame.Sometimes we [truckers] are our own worst enemy … they [animals] have feelings too.”

For his trucking adventure, Mahony said he has about another 10 years left in him.

Horse training?

“Forever,” Mahony said. “My wife wouldn’t let me stop.”

Heavy Duty Trucking: Byrd: Industry Must Pull Together Like a Family

By Deborah Lockridge

TMC, NASHVILLE – Trucking. It’s complex, highly technological, and essential to the nation’s economy. That was the theme of Phil Byrd, chairman of American Trucking Associations and president and CEO of Bulldog Hiway Express, speaking Tuesday at ATA’s Technology & Maintenance Council’s 2014 Annual Meeting.

Byrd said while some people may think trucking is as simple as getting a truck and some freight and taking it from one place to another, “transportation and logistics and trucking is anything but simple. It’s a complicated and complex industry. I would submit to you that our businesses from a technological standpoint far exceeds those of the customers we serve.”

First, he said, there is the complex process of spec’ing a truck to perform precisely in the environment in which it will be used. It has to be spec’d correctly, built correctly and maintained correctly.

Then you have to have the right driver to put behind the wheel of that truck – another complicated part of the business. “The driver has to be well trained, he has to be well licensed, and qualified in every respect as set forth by the Department of Transportation,” Byrd said. “We can leave no stone unturned.”

Once you have the truck and the driver, he said, you have to have cargo to move. “That’s what we do every day when we wake up, we deliver America’s economy.”

“Then we have to hit the highways, our interstates, our toll roads, and that’s not a simple task anymore,” Byrd said. “That is a complex and complicated problem we all face. We’re delivering America’s freight with a piece of equipment that’s technologically advanced with a driver who’s well qualified… over a highway system that is crumbing beneath our trucks. We have to embrace a form of stabilizing the Highway Trust Fund that will allow America to rebuild its road systems.”

Of course, all this is made more complex by government regulations.

And then, we have to communicate all this to lawmakers, to regulators and to the general public.

“By and large Americans don’t understand what we do,” Byrd said. “And whose fault is that? We have to effectively communicate the essentiality of our industry. Today in America, 68.5% of tonnage in this country moves on trucks. That’s a big responsibility.”

Despite what you may hear about railroads and short sea shipping taking a bigger share, he said, he most recent studies have shown that by 2024, as these other modes increase capacity, our industry will be called on to move 71% of everything manufactured or shipped in this great country of ours. And we have to communicate that. We have to tell our stories.”

Byrd was referring to ATA’s new image campaign, “Trucking Moves America Forward,” which will officially be launched later this month.

Citing figures from ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello, Byrd said last year the trucking industry moved more than 530 million truckload shipments. That compares to the rail industry, he said, which moved 29 million truckload equivalent shipments. In January alone, he said, the trucking industry moved more truckload shipments than the railroad industry will move all year.

Byrd said he recently was asked at a press conference why trucks couldn’t operate only at night and on weekends.

“That’s how uninformed most Americans are,” he said. “I looked that individual in the eye and I said, ‘Have you ever had a loved one in the hospital in ICU that needed specific medications, specific supplies? Have you ever seen a railroad track or a ship offloading freight at a hospital? No. But what you have seen is trucks delivering life saving medications.

“That’s what we do. We save lives, we change lives, we move America’s commerce.”

He emphasized the importance of the industry working together on this and other issues.

To help make this happen, Byrd said, ATA has three initiatives:

  • A strategic planning committee that is looking at every process ATA has. “We have to be more effective, more nimble, communicate better, and move legislation in a shorter time frame,” he said. “We need to be recognized in Washington as the horsepower of trucking.”
  • A committee is looking at the funding problem, chaired by Dan England of C.R. England, with CEOs of major trucking and logistics companies, including FedEx and UPS, on that committee.
  • The committee working on trucking’s image.

“On our company’s website you’ll find the word family. We are a business family and we care about each other and our business. We think it’s important that people feel ownership, respect, that they’re bringing value to the process. i think that’s one thing that can be taken from our company and distributed through the industry. We may be competitors, but from an industry perspective we’re family, we’re interconnected, what affects one affects another.

“There’s great strength in our unity. Yes, families argue, they don’t always see things the same way. But at the end of the day we have to settle on what’s best for the industry at large.”

Transport Topics: Opinion: Let Your Pride Show

By Philip Byrd Sr.Chairman, American Trucking Associations

It was a little more than four months ago that I stood before many of you in Orlando at our Management Conference & Exhibition and had the honor of being named the 69th chairman of American Trucking Associations.

At that time, I said I expected this year to be the pinnacle of my career, and, so far, I may have undersold just how exciting and rewarding this adventure would be. It is truly a unique and humbling experience to represent one of our country’s largest — and most essential — industries as ATA chairman.

In my travels, I’ve seen the passion my fellow ATA members have for this industry and the pride in what they and their companies do every day to make sure the American economy moves safely and efficiently from port to produce stand and from factory to the showroom floor.

The members I’ve spoken with have deep knowledge about this industry. They understand the issues that affect them, and they are generous with their time and resources to help this association and this industry prepare for a rapidly changing future — one full of regulatory challenges, political battles, a changing workforce and an economy that continues to grow.

The passion and knowledge the members of ATA bring to the table underscore just why this association is recognized throughout the country — and throughout Washington — as the single most effective voice advocating on behalf of the trucking industry.

When leaders on Capitol Hill or in the Department of Transportation or the Environmental Protection Agency have a question about trucking, they don’t hesitate, they call ATA. The professional staff — with help from you, ATA’s members — are able to quickly and capably address any issue with a depth of knowledge that is second to none.

I was particularly struck by this in late January at ATA’s Executive Committee meeting in Washington. I was able to look out and see a room full of strong, smart entrepreneurs working with ATA’s capable policy staff. I was struck by it when our members were able to hear from, and question, top officials from DOT and EPA — voicing the industry’s concerns and policies to those who are in a position to do something about it.

That was ATA at its best — coming together, looking at the multitude of issues facing our industry and moving forward to address them. It is an effort that I hope to continue in the rest of my year as chairman.

As I travel to various state association meetings and other industry gatherings, I’m struck by how often the same issues come up as important:

• The driver shortage

• Improving our image with the public

• Safety

• The condition of our roads and bridges

Identifying these issues is just half of what we as an industry and an association need to do.

The other half is the streamlining and reorganizing your association has undertaken. As Gov. Graves announced before our Executive Committee, ATA is committed to being more nimble and responsive, not just to its members but to the changing political, regulatory and economic climate.

ATA is — and will continue to be — the strongest and most effective voice for this industry, but by reworking our structures and reimagining our processes more strategically, we will continue to grow and enhance our ability to affect change in Washington and around the country.

This is a diverse industry and a diverse association. Having a more effective strategic plan will help us bob and weave with the punches better in order to serve you better.

Our diversity is a great strength for our industry. ATA members haul literally every piece of the economy — food, fuel, medicine, construction supplies, clothing. Everything made or sold in this country moves on a truck. Despite this, our drivers are reviled, our trucks are demonized and, frankly, we are misunderstood as an industry. We need to change that.

We need to show our drivers more respect; educate the public about the critical role our industry plays in their lives; enlighten our public officials about what a world without safe, efficient truck transportation looks like; and edify our fellow truckers about the need to come together and stay together to accomplish all that our industry needs to do.

And that is my pledge to you — over the next few months — until I hand off this most awesome responsibility, I will work hard every day representing you and ATA.

The author is president of Bulldog Hiway Express, a Charleston, S.C.-based carrier that has truckload, intermodal, heavy-haul and dedicated divisions serving the United States and Canada.

CCJ: Expanding connectivity with drivers

By Aaron Huff

“Staying connected” is more than a modern convenience; it is a way of life, a habit, an expectation for people that own smartphones and tablet devices.

In the transportation industry, connectivity has traditionally been extended to drivers for business purposes only. Commercial and private fleets would install onboard computing and mobile communication systems to track location, send and receive messages, and capture performance and maintenance information from vehicles.

Today, the possibilities for drivers to stay connected while on the road are virtually unlimited for business and personal convenience.

For drivers, staying connected is easy since they are the ones who decide how, when and where to use personal devices. From a fleet management perspective, connectivity is a more complicated equation.

“In the commercial space many new issues come into play like security, compensation, personal versus consumer devices, support and reliability of dealing with many devices,” says Eric Witty, vice president of product management for Cadec, which provides the PowerVue mobile fleet management system. “Fleets and vendors seem to be working through these issues to find the right solutions.”

Fleet applications are designed to keep drivers connected for safety, compliance and productivity. Electronic logbooks, workflow and turn-by-turn navigation are a few of the applications suited for this purpose. Electronic toll and bypass systems also communicate with devices in vehicles to keep the wheels rolling safely and efficiently.

When the wheels stop, drivers turn to personal devices to stay connected to family and friends through social media, to entertainment, and to many business apps and websites to plan their route and track expenses. In the near future, drivers will be using apps to reserve parking spots, to check wait times for shower facilities at truck stops, and many more job-related conveniences.

Commercial platforms are quickly moving in the same direction. The photo gallery at the top shows how some of the latest platforms keep drivers connected to the corporate enterprise while safely crossing over to the consumer side to improve the user experience.

Forbes: How Big Data Is Changing Long-Haul Trucking

By Erin Richey

On a long stretch of highway, a semi-trailer sends a message to a trucking company that the truck’s refrigeration unit is warming up. Before the temperature in the trailer has a chance to affect the product being transported, the company notifies the truck driver of where to get it fixed, keeping the truck’s contents from being ruined.

Back at company headquarters, trucking experts connect with drivers on the road who are trying to improve fuel economy. In a series of phone conversations, they work together to diagnose equipment problems or improve driving habits, allowing drivers to make fewer fuel stops.

These are just two examples of how big data and trucking have intersected for early adopters like C.R. England Inc., one of the largest for-hire motor carriers in the country.

Telematics and electronic on-board recorders (EOBRs) are revolutionizing how large motor carriers transport goods, using intelligent systems that collect data and communicate in real-time to ensure that groceries arrive unspoiled, drivers are less fatigued and highways are safer for everyone. Big data has brought the potential to preserve, and possibly expand, the trucking industry’s narrow profit margins, and experts believe it won’t be long before multi-purpose monitoring units are installed in every semi-trailer in America.

Toward “total cost of ownership”

C.R. England has installed in-cab telematics systems in every one of its company and independent contractor vehicles: that’s 4,500 revenue-producing trucks, plus training and auxiliary vehicles. The devices track driving hours, fuel efficiency factors, location and critical events like hard braking and the activation of trailers’ roll stability controls. All of that is communicated in real time to the company, by satellite or cell tower, and used to make decisions en route.

“If you’re adopting EOBR and not using that now-visible log data in your planning and swap decision making, then you’re not taking the most advantage of that data,” says Ron Hall, senior director of operations technology at C.R. England. In 2008, the company began implementing EOBR at the encouragement of Chad England, the current CEO, who was the senior executive for safety and recruiting at the time.

Since then, the data collected by EOBR and telematics units in the fleet have been used to make major purchase decisions. “When we award business to a particular tractor manufacturer—and we review this yearly—we will actually award the business based on total cost of ownership, not just the purchase price, and fuel consumption is a major factor in that total cost of ownership model that we make our decisions off of,” says Hall.

The number crunching has paid off. According to Hall, the devices have helped the company reduce deadheading (trailers traveling empty between unloading and reloading) from 8 percent of miles traveled to below 7 percent, and he estimates fuel efficiency improvements at a tenth of a mile per gallon per year for the last three years.

Although big trucking companies have eagerly adopted big data strategies in their business models, smaller carriers have been less enthusiastic.

“The small guys, based on our research, typically delay a major technology investment three to five years,” says Dan Murray, vice president of research for the non-profit American Transportation Research Institute. He adds that after bigger carriers have outfitted their fleets and tested early versions of products, prices usually drop and models are usually easier to implement, given input from early adopters.

“The question is, can the small guys survive long enough to benefit from the technology? The trucking industry’s average profit margin is about 3.6 cents on the dollar,” says Murray. “So we only invest in technology that has an almost immediate ROI, and it has to have a pretty fast payback or break-even point, within 12 to 18 months.”

Lying on log books

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will soon require all carriers to install some type of electronic on-board monitoring device in vehicles to track vehicle status and how many hours a driver has been on the road.  Proponents of the new rules, such as president of the Arkansas Trucking Association Lane Kidd, say that electronic devices will improve trucking safety.

“Three million truck drivers today still use a paper log book, which is the same system we’ve had in the industry since 1938. And the worst kept secret is that drivers lie on their log books,” says Kidd. He believes that EOBR will, first and foremost, improve highway safety by preventing driver fatigue. “It gives the company a better view of what’s actually happening out on the highway.”

C.R. England compliance manager Kevin Carlisle says that for as many carriers that have implemented EOBR systems, “there are many, many more companies that are not using electronic logs.” And they’re missing out on a key advantage of adopting electronic logs: Carlisle says annual inspections found errors in 55 to 67 percent of paper logs, which can result in fines or detention of trailers. With the new electronic logs, he says, inspectors sometimes find no errors in their drivers’ logs during an inspection period.

The future of telematics and big data in trucking, says Murray, lies in cross-referencing real-time driver data with data on weather, parking availability and traffic delays to deliver information to the driver as quickly as possible. For instance, a driver’s device might tell him or her if weather ahead will cause a delivery delay that would extend past the maximum driving hours for the trip and then direct the driver to the nearest available parking area.

“I would say that within a couple years that level of sophistication will be out in the truck—for sure within two to three years,” Murray says.