Jonathan Ball - Comments

I have been involved in both managing a trucking company as well as working for the technology providers throughout my carreer. I now am involved as an industry consultant. It has always amazed me the lack of support that the government has given for the adoption of new technologies to help improve safety and accountability. The government seems to embrace the current system of handwritten DOT log books that can and have been falsified easily and have no verification of the information recorded. GPS when applied to DOT log books provide a method of verifications not available in the traditional log books. The government has in the past embraced a few technologies that are directly integrated to the truck engine. The vendors of these technologies, Cadec, Xata and Tripmaster seem to have influenced the regulations to be written in such a way as to exclude competition from less expensive systems that do not integrate directly to the engine. The requirement of direct engine integration adds alot of expense to the final solution while not offering much more in the way of making the system more efficient or accurate. It is unecessary because gps calculation can accurately determine whether a vehicle is moving or not. Questions within the application can determine whether the driver is on-duty or not much in the same way as the handwritten log states whether the driver is on duty or not. As far as legally binding entries from computer entries, electronic signitures and web forms have been used for a decade to purchase products on line, setup lines of credit at the bank, and just about every transaction imaginable. Why is it so hard for the FMCSB to accept electronic entries on an onboard or handheld device as binding to the driver? Please get with the times! The introduction of low cost DOT solutions on the market would increase safety and accountability on our highways dramatically. It would make the adoption of electronic DOT systems affordable.