GLENPOOL, Okla. -- The U.S. Department of Transportation is converting to Electronic Logging Devices from paper logs for commercial vehicles.
The compliance date deadline was Dec. 18, 2017.
Glenpool resident Sean Johnson trains horses and transports them across the country for shows. As of now, he has been able to skirt the rules by having a "Not For Hire" sticker on his truck, like many other horse trainers in the state.
"Everybody that competes and hauls down the road and shows horses, cattle, whatever. If you're getting paid to go down the road or paid to compete, then it affects you," Johnson said.
The U.S.D.O.T. requires people involved in any sort of interstate commerce to get their commercial driver's license if their truck exceeds the weight limit. That limit in Oklahoma is 26,001 pounds combined weight.
That will mandate them to install an Electronic Logging Device in their trucks to monitor how long they have been on the road. The ELD will also require them to take breaks throughout their trips.
The ELD will make it next to impossible for Johnson and others in similar industries to get around the rules.
He is worried how that will affect his operation.
"We have livestock and to have to split up your trips... If we're going to Vegas that turns into a two-day trip," Johnson said. "Well now you got to put it in somebody else's barn. You run the risk of them catching whatever illnesses from being in a new place."
People caught on the road without their CDL could face of a fine of several thousand dollars.
"It's like anything else," Johnson said. "In the beginning, change isn't that great of an idea, but we just figure out how to deal with it and go on."
Click here for more information and a deadline to get a CDL.
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