ELD’s Making Roadside Inspections Easy

With the ELD mandate we think it’s important for you to know the benefits they carry in making any inspection a lot easier, quicker and smoother. Inspections not only target your truck, but they also focus on the Driver, making ELD’s beneficial for your fleet.

The Different Types of Inspections

The key thing to note with inspections is knowing what inspectors are looking for and being prepared for all forms of inspections. But first we think you should know how many types of inspections there are. In total there are 7 levels of inspections that Drivers could be stopped for.

Level 1

Level 1 is the North American Standard Inspection which means that both the Driver and the vehicle are thoroughly inspected. Things like Hours of Service, Record of Duty Status and seat belt usage along with many more are what inspectors look at.

Level 2

The level 2 inspection is similar to level 1 except that it only focuses on points that the inspector can see without physically getting underneath the vehicle. However once again the Driver is also inspected and gets the same points looked at as in level 1 by inspectors.

Level 3

This level focuses on the Driver and administrative side of inspection. Drivers need to have all the information ready to be looked over as in level 1 and 2, however the vehicle itself is not inspected.

Level 4

This level inspects only a specific item. The main purpose of this is for study cases or to confirm/deny a trend.

Level 5

This level focuses on vehicle only inspections and can be conducted at any point with or without the Driver being present.

Level 6

Level 6 is focused on inspection of radioactive material and waste. Very similar to Level 1 in terms of what is searched for by inspectors. This level focuses on ensuring carriers of radioactive material are compliant to the regulations of transporting them.

Level 7

Focuses on transporting people such as in limo’s, taxi’s, school buses etc.

Level 8

The North American Electronic Inspection is the final kind of inspection that can be conducted. Although a fairly new inspection level, it’s a highly effective inspection since it’s run as the vehicle is in motion.

Source: https://cvsa.org/inspections/inspections/all-inspection-levels/

How ELD Can Help

Now you’re probably wondering great I know about the different types of inspections but how does ELD help me with them. Well that’s easy. ELD’s are designed to track the Drivers Hours of Service (HOS), which was a feature that almost all of the inspection levels above asked for. Now ELD devices are connected to a telematics device that is connected to the engine control module (ECM), making it possible to track information like seatbelt usage, which inspectors look for. Not to mention that the record of duty status, HOS and Daily Vehicle Inspection Reports (DVIR) can also be conducted through an ELD solution.

No need to keep a bunch of logs piled together that you risk losing or have to pay the costs of to store the logs and buy them. Instead you have one solution connected to your vehicle, and one Driver, it really is that simple.

Under the circumstances that you are pulled over for an inspection, sending the information to the FMCSA is easily done in these three steps:

1. After logging in go to the left-hand side and select ‘FMCSA Data Transfer’ tab
2. Then select the vehicle, Driver and the date that you want the report to cover
3. And press submit to the FMCSA and voila, you’re all set

This will save Drivers time since reports can be sent within a matter of seconds instead of consistently looking through different paperwork. We wanted a simple, quick and easy solution for Drivers to understand and work with and that’s what we are giving you. Your time is valuable, and we know you want to be more productive, efficient and reduce the stress of not being ready for an inspection. So believe us when we say that you will love our ELD solution because it checks all your boxes.