Federal regulators, law enforcement agencies and industry groups are stepping up action against manipulation of electronic logging devices, according to a Transport Topics report published September 12. The mandated devices were meant to make hours of service violations harder to conceal than paper logbooks allowed. Some motor carriers have worked with technology vendors to falsify driver records anyway, using methods that inspectors describe as increasingly sophisticated.
One tactic involves fictitious driver accounts, referred to in the industry as ghost drivers. Third party dispatchers or rogue device providers create these accounts to obscure how long a driver has actually been behind the wheel, which lets a carrier run past hours of service limits. Roadside inspectors have watched log data change on a device while an inspection was under way, after a driver sent a text message that triggered edits to time and location records. Some vendors have advertised record manipulation as a paid monthly service.
The scale is substantial. Inspectors recorded more than 58,000 false duty status violations in 2025. Carriers that falsify logs gain an economic edge over competitors operating inside the rules, because extra driving hours translate into more loads and more revenue.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has responded by removing noncompliant devices from its registered list. The American Trucking Associations is developing certification recommendations for device makers. In Congress, the GHOSTRUCK Act is under consideration as a measure aimed at curbing manipulation. Fleet managers reviewing telematics vendors now face added scrutiny over device certification and audit trails.
Source: Transport Topics - https://www.ttnews.com/articles/ghost-drivers-eld