Staff Photo by Allison Carter/Chattanooga Times Free Press – Friday U.S. Express truck driver Anthony Bianculli explains the screen that tracks his last duty charge in green and what he has done for the day in yellow. The device is a more efficient way for the U.S. Express drivers like Bianculli to keep up with their time and uses less paper.U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., is co-sponsoring a bill requiring the installation of electronic monitoring devices in all trucks within three years.
The devices are designed to replace paper logs to ensure drivers are not driving more hours than the law allows.
“This bill will save truckers time, paper and money, and it will make government leaner,” Alexander said in a news release. “The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration estimates that in paperwork savings alone, converting to electronic onboard records would save $60 million a year.”
But Eric Arnold, a former agent with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration who now operates a safety consulting business in Pennsylvania, said the bill irks smaller trucking companies.
“The objection for the smaller carriers is the government is telling them how to run their business and how to spend their dollars,” Arnold said.