The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) is continuing its fight against the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the agency's allegedly overly burdensome rules.
The FMCSA has implemented a rule that requires truckers to use an electronic driving log, rather than the paper alternatives they had long tracked their hours with. The legal battle over the change to driving logs stretches back years, and the latest attempt by the OOIDA to overturn an electronic mandate means that drivers will be using their paper logs for the time being. In 2011, an appellate court overturned a previous electronic logging device rule from the FMCSA, a victory for the OOIDA that the organization hopes will repeat itself, according to the Journal of Commerce (JOC). The drivers' group claimed that electronic devices could be used to violate employees' privacy and harass them, and that they would not benefit truck safety.
"This rule has the potential to have the single largest, most negative impact on the industry than anything else done by FMCSA," Jim Johnston, OOIDA president and CEO, said in a statement. "We intend to fight it with everything we have available."
Electronic logging device rule would affect 3 million drivers
The OOIDA filed a petition for review of the final rule in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, according to its own publication, Land Line. Johnston explained that the rule could actually prove detrimental to highway safety by placing extra pressure on and distracting drivers, in addition to it being a violation of truckers' privacy. The rule would require truck drivers still using paper logs to switch over to electronic devices by December 2017. This change would affect 3 million drivers, the JOC reported. In addition, it will cost the industry around $1 billion. The lawsuit will likely produce another lengthy litigation process.
While the OOIDA is fiercely opposed to the electronic logging device rule, other organizations, such as the American Trucking Associations (ATA), support it. When the FMCSA's most recent rule regarding how truckers track hours was released in December, the ATA praised it.
"Safety is ATA's highest priority," Pat Thomas, senior vice president of state government affairs for UPS and chairman of the ATA, said in a press release. "Today's announcement of an electronic logging device mandate will make our industry even safer than it is today so we are grateful to FMCSA for advancing this important regulation."
Drivers split on whether electronic logging devices are detrimental
Regardless of whether the FMCSA's rule actually does improve safety, it will be delayed again as the OOIDA continues its fight against it. Todd Spencer, the organization's vice president, has asserted that there isn't even a device capable of logging hours in the ways that the rule requires. While the electronic logging devices track vehicle location and movement, the truckers themselves have to input which driver is on duty and the amount of time spent not driving, he explained during a radio interview, the JOC reported.
The individuals who the rule would affect most – the drivers – seem split on the issue, according to a JOC assessment of calls into the radio program. One individual called in and stated that if the electronic logging device rule went into effect, and he didn't know how to use it, he would be forced to quit his job as a driver. Another caller explained that he would take the freight and payments from anyone who retired from trucking due to the rule.