Small Truckers Request Congressional Action on ELD Mandate

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, the nation’s only organization exclusively representing professional and small-business truckers, asked the U.S. House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure to hold an oversight hearing on a recently implemented regulation.

OOIDA said in a letter to the committee that the roll out of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s electronic logging device mandate is critically flawed and the committee should evaluate the serious difficulties their constituents are experiencing because of the regulation.

“An oversight hearing, which has already been requested by federal legislators, would help lawmakers better understand what administrative or legislative remedies might be needed,” said Todd Spencer, acting president and CEO.

OOIDA says the impact of the rule has been much broader than anticipated and major concerns have been validated by FMCSA’s patchwork of temporary waivers, exemptions, and “soft enforcement” deadlines that have only caused more confusion across the country.

Prior to the $2 billion mandate taking effect in December 2017, OOIDA and more than 30 other industries impacted by the rule shared serious concerns that the agency, law enforcement and the regulated community were not prepared for implementation.

Since the mandate took effect, OOIDA says truckers have routinely communicated substantial troubles they’ve experienced related to devices, including several vendor-wide systems failures, faulty GPS tracking, inaccurate recording of duty statuses, engine disablements, speed irregularities, and abysmal customer service from manufacturers.

The letter goes on to state that FMCSA has taken no steps to remedy these mounting issues or even inform truckers their devices may not be compliant. Instead, the agency is relying on vendors to fix their equipment.

“All of this points to our conclusion that Congress should really avoid enacting one-size-fits-all mandates such as this on industries as diverse as trucking,” said Spencer.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is the only national trade association representing the interests of small-business trucking professionals and professional truck drivers. The Association currently has more than 160,000 members nationwide. OOIDA was established in 1973 and is headquartered in the greater Kansas City, Mo. area.

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