ATRI HOS and ELD Survey Opens With October 16 Deadline

The American Transportation Research Institute has opened a nationwide survey to measure the safety benefits and compliance costs of hours-of-service rules and the electronic logging device mandate. FleetOwner reported the research launch September 17. The first assessment covers the overall HOS and ELD requirements plus nine individual provisions, giving drivers, motor carriers, law enforcement and other stakeholders a structured way to evaluate what works and what creates unnecessary burden.

Participants are asked to rate each provision's perceived safety value and cost, then recommend changes that could preserve or improve safety while reducing compliance expense. ATRI says responses will remain confidential and will be reported only in aggregated, anonymized form. The survey closes October 16. The organization intends to use the results to build a repeatable benefit-cost framework that can later examine other safety, workforce and environmental regulations.

This project does not change current hours-of-service limits, ELD requirements or enforcement. Drivers and fleets must continue following the rules in effect while the research proceeds. That distinction matters because a request for industry feedback can be mistaken for a proposed rule or an exemption. Any future federal change would require a separate public process through the appropriate agency.

Carriers that participate should gather input from safety staff, dispatchers and working drivers before submitting a response. Useful feedback should describe the affected provision, the operational cost, the safety outcome and a practical alternative, supported by records where possible. CDL students can also learn from the process: compliance policy is strongest when it connects real operating experience with measurable safety results. The survey gives trucking professionals a time-limited opportunity to help shape how regulators and researchers compare those two sides of the equation.