CSP sets up automatic warnings to ELDs in dangerous mountain areas

The Colorado State Patrol has set up a system of automatic warnings directly to driver’s Electronic Logging Devices in dangerous mountain areas. 

The Motor Carrier Safety Section of the CSP is the first in the nation to set up virtual geofences along Colorado roads that trigger the automatic messages to appear right on trucker’s ELDs, but only if they subscribe to them, reported 9 News. The messages will include warnings such as “slow down,” “shift gears” or “sharp curves ahead.” The automatic messages have already been put in place at the  Eisenhower Tunnel, with more than 16,000 warning messages already sent. 

“We’re able to geofence,” Captain John Hahn with CSP said. “We’re able to pick the locations where we’d like that messaging to ping the truck. We can choose any location along our highway system so that when that truck drives through that geofence, through that electronic gate, that message will pop up in front of them.”

“We’ve seen about a 4.3 mph reduction in speed for those trucks that are going westbound that hit that geofence [at the Eisenhower Tunnel] and get that message.”

Though CSP believes the messages are already working, they do have concerns over smaller trucking companies that do not subscribe to receiving the messages. 

“We’re trying to reach those drivers that don’t get an opportunity to drive in Colorado’s mountains,” Hahn said. “It really is a matter of us trying to find everything that we can do to try and keep people safe.”