Efficacy of Electronic Monitoring: An Investigation of Electronic Data Logging Regulation and Motor Vehicle Crash Fatalities

Introduction

The increasing digitalization of the supply chain enables firms to record and monitor the end to end activity of a supply chain, including individual employee behaviors (Dhamija et al., 2020). While much has been made of the potential operational benefits associated with these technologies (Baritto et al., 2020; Matani, 2020), scholars have also noted that the implementation of these digital tools often includes the ability of employers to closely monitor employee performance and compliance with policies (Daus, 2019; Laguir et al., 2022; Verma, 2017). This use of electronic performance monitoring (EPM) has met with mixed results in the extant literature, with some studies finding it can increase employee productivity and resource planning (Kalischko & Riedl, 2021) while others find the use of EPM can lead to lower morale, lower job satisfaction, higher stress (Jeske & Santuzzi, 2015; Kalischko & Riedl, 2021; Rafnsdóttir & Gudmundsdottir, 2011) and may incentivize counterproductive work behaviors (Shaffer & Darnold, 2020), especially behaviors not subject to increased monitoring (Scott et al., 2021).

One industry where the impacts of EPM on individual behaviors are of particular interest is that of the commercial trucking industry in the United States. Beginning December 2017, the US Department of Transportation mandated the use of electronic logging devices (ELDs) for all nonexempt interstate carriers. These ELDs represent a widespread, mandatory adoption of EPM as they use data from a truck’s engine to automatically record information on the amount of time each driver operates their vehicle to allow inspectors to verify driver compliance with federal hours of service (HOS) regulations. Additionally, these data may also be accessed by employers to monitor driver activity for adherence to company policy and to maximize employee productivity (Trucker, 2017).

Importantly, research into the use of ELDs to affect driver behavior shows conflicting results. For example, Cantor et al. (2009) find that carriers with higher percentages of trucks with ELDs had fewer HOS violations as well as fewer crashes and Miller et al. (2018) demonstrate a significant link between a carrier’s ability to monitor drivers using technology and compliance with HOS regulations. On the other hand, a recent study by Scott et al. (2021) reports that while the ELD mandate increase HOS compliance rates, it was also linked with a relative increase in unsafe driving and crashes, especially for small trucking firms. The impact of this ELD mandate thus, remains uncertain. Moreover, while studies have considered the associated effects on compliance rates and crashes, these fall short of linking the ELD regulation with is overarching purpose, to improve roadway safety (FMCSA 2015). With commercial truck drivers accounting for approximately 10% of all annual vehicle miles traveled in the United States and large trucks involved in over 4,000 fatal crashes per year (FMCSA, 2021), it is critical to understand how the use of EPM through ELDs may affect drivers of large trucks, especially any impacts on safety (Ravid et al., 2020). As such, this study attempts to answer the following research questions, 1) What is the effect of the ELD mandate on fatal crashes involving large trucks as well as the number of fatalities in these crashes? and 2) How did the ELD mandate affect fatal crashes and fatalities involving key factors not monitored using ELDs?