Once upon a time, truck drivers could disappear into a shimmering haze referred to by many as “the freedom of the open road.” While it may be true that few Americans have a workplace that stretches thousands of miles in any direction, the image of the trucker as a wandering free spirit is a lie: Truckers are one of the most closely watched groups in America.

In an essay published in Land Line magazine last year, Bill Hudgins stated, “Every morning when Tom T. Hauler fires up his late-model Class 8 tractor, a host of electronic busybodies starts taking notes.”

What Hudgins is referring to are the many electronic control modules built into today’s big rigs. These modules keep track of everything from tire and oil pressure to whether or not your wipers are on. By reporting their findings to the driver, ECMs serve an important maintenance function. However, ECMs also record things such as hard braking, idle time and fuel efficiency. Though far from being the “black boxes” safety groups have long sought, ECMs silently watch and record many aspects of a truck’s behavior. How many times and how hard did you apply your brakes on your last trip? Did you speed, shift when you should have, flick your lights? Don’t remember? The ECMs do.

Looking at just the truck, there is the license plate, the posted MC number, IFTA registration, the tractor and trailer numbers and the company name emblazoned on the door. These provide more than enough information to ruin a driver’s day. According to Hudgins, one need only point a Web browser at www.safersys.org and enter an MC or possibly an MX number for Mexican carriers or USDOT number to gain access to a profile of the carrier, including licensing and insurance information, out-of-service reports, name, address and phone number.

However, the Office of Inspector General for the federal agency issued a memorandum June 29 of the Investment Review Board’s deliberations on the Motor Carrier Management Information System.

The OIG notes that the quality of data being fed into the Safety Status Measurement System, or SafeStat, is so poor that the FMCSA recently announced it would remove key data elements from the public Internet site until it improved.

Gathering employment information about drivers is big business, and DAC Services Inc. archives the records of more than 4 million of them. DAC provides its 30,000 clients with employment histories, driving records, criminal histories, credit records and alcohol and drug tests that it has gathered from the same clients. Although DAC tries to keep its records straight, they can only be as accurate as the information that is furnished.

Abuses of DAC’s database are numerous. In a recent letter to Land Line magazine, John M. Esposito of Orange Park, Fla., wrote, “I have been a professional driver since 1976, and since DAC became widespread, I have been personally blackballed (by DAC) twice, both times was after turning in trucking companies for unsafe acts and violations. … This is the only such occupation with this type of nationwide blackballing service. It’s about time drivers speak up and refuse to work for any carriers that use DAC other than for MVRs; safety is spelled out in one’s motor vehicle report, not the bogus lies entered on DAC by company employees.”

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) feels Mr. Esposito has a valid complaint. Earlier this year, OOIDA filed a class action lawsuit against USIS Commercial Services Inc., doing business as DAC Services.

According to OOIDA’s Web site, their claim is that “DAC purchases or otherwise acquires, without the permission of truck drivers, statements about them, including those dealing with their work records, and then sells the consumer reports’ which contain the statements to motor carriers considering applications by drivers.”

“For years, OOIDA has received numerous complaints from professional truckers of abuse and intimidation under the DAC system,” said OOIDA President Jim Johnston, “especially with regard to the inaccuracy of reports, the ambiguity of the terminology used in the reports and the negative consequences of that coded language.”

According to Johnston, many truckers feel they are “blackballed” as a direct result of the system. “It’s time for this unjust system of blackballing and intimidation to come to an end,” Johnston said.

As an assist to those who keep track of them, drivers must provide a log of their activities covering every hour of every day whether on duty or off. In this digital age, this is still done the way it has always been – with pen, paper and ruler. Other humans then scrutinize the driver’s log, often with the aid of technology. Driver logs must coincide with supporting documents such as fuel receipts, toll receipts and in the near future, satellite tracking systems.

Then there are the credit cards most drivers use to pay for their fuel and the transponders used to electronically pay tolls. Not only do these cards and transponders record their purchases and the date and time they were made, the records generated by the transactions can be used as supporting documents in auditing a driver’s logbook. Companies such as J.J. Keller, Comdata and Transplace – to name only three – use drivers’ electronic fuel card data as part of their Log Falsification Audit Services

Trucks equipped with Qualcomm or another satellite tracking system not only provide real-time positioning information to those back at the office, they record a “history” of the truck’s whereabouts. Although many companies say they do not use such “histories” in auditing logs, histories have been subpoenaed for legal proceedings. According to Al Skofield, the director of safety at Pottle’s Transportation, if a federal or state auditor were to request the satellite tracking history for any of Pottle’s drivers, Skofield would be compelled to provide it.

Though the federal government does not currently recognize a satellite-tracking history as a bona fide supporting document, they are currently considering changing that fact. When, not if, this is done, truck drivers will truly be on a short leash.

Then there is PrePass. PrePass is the name given to a pre-approval transponder system that enables participating fleets to bypass many weigh stations. On its Web site, PrePass states that information cannot be passed from one PrePass site to another and that PrePass has no means of recording a vehicle’s speed. Further, the invoice sent to the carrier does not list times. After the invoice is paid, all information is deleted.

While worrying about the federal and state DOT, state police, satellites, transponders, ECMs and logbook checkers, a driver must also not ignore low-tech tattletales. In his 2003 Land Line essay, Hudgins tells of a how a driver once called his dispatcher to say he was stuck in Iowa, but according to caller ID was actually calling from a number several states away.

The freedom of the open road: May it rest in peace.

Until next time: Keep the greasy side down and the shiny side up. Drive carefully.

Guy Bourrie has been hauling on the highways for 20 years. He lives in Washington, Maine, and can be reached at [email protected].