SCM104 Unit 20A Case Study Version 1.0 Page 2 of 3

Who Pays the Price? Over the last 10 years the federal government has dramatically increased the number of regulations pertaining to transportation safety and security. Two such regulations are presented below. Review them and answer the case questions. Transportation SafetyDecember 18, 2017, is set as the implementation day for electronic logging devices (ELD) in trucks. ELDs will replace paper logbooks for truck drivers to provide better control over their compliance with Hours of Service regulations that are designed to combat driver fatigue. It is believed that paper logbooks are subject to fraud and allow drivers to exceed 11 hours of driving time per day and more than 60 hours in a seven-day period. On the other hand, drivers will not be able to easily exceed the limits as ELDs are not easily manipulated. The cost of ELD purchase, installation, and operation is the responsibility of the trucking company or the independent truck driver. ELD critics believe that, at a cost of up to $2,500 per unit, the expense of ELD adoption is excessive for small companies and independent truckers. They also project productivity decreases of 15 percent fewer miles traveled per day and nominal rate increases of 5 to 10 percent for loads booked on the spot market. Proponents indicate that ELDs will improve the accuracy of HOS logs, improve Hours