An electronic on-board recorder (EOBR) is an electronic device attached to a
commercial motor vehicle
A commercial vehicle is any type of motor vehicle used for transporting goods or paying passengers.
The United States defines a "commercial motor vehicle" as any self-propelled or towed vehicle used on a public highway in interstate commerce to ...
, which is used to record the amount of time a vehicle is being driven. This is similar to the
tachograph
A tachograph is a device fitted to a vehicle that automatically records its speed and distance, together with the driver's activity selected from a choice of modes. The drive mode is activated automatically when the vehicle is in motion, and ...
, and is the American equivalent of the digital tachograph used in Europe. Trucks in the European Union are required to have digital tachographs installed, and are securely monitored by government agencies. However, in Europe, the new digital tachograph which is considered secure, can be tricked with a round magnet placed by drivers over the connection to the transmission box. Usually they tie a rope to that magnet, and with a simple pull, the magnet will disengage and will show that the driver started moving about half an hour ago (or whatever time the driver wants to set by stopping in a rest area after a sleeping period, and place the magnet on).
The majority of carriers and drivers in the United States currently use paper-based
log books. On January 31, 2011, the U.S.
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation that regulates the trucking industry in the United States. The primary mission of the FMCSA is to reduce crashes, injuries and f ...
(FMCSA) proposed a rule requiring Electronic On-Board Recorders for interstate commercial truck and bus companies. The proposed rule covers interstate carriers that currently use log books to record driver's hours of service. The proposal would affect more than 500,000 carriers in the United States and carriers that currently use time cards would be exempt.
The only mandatory EOBR use is for companies with a poor compliance record that is slated to go into effect in June, 2012. On August 26, 2011, in a lawsuit brought by the Owner–Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated and remanded the rule back to the agency for further proceedings. According to Robert Digges, the
American Trucking Associations
The American Trucking Associations (ATA), founded in 1933, is the largest national trade association for the trucking industry. ATA represents more than 37,