The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) filed a lawsuit this week over the electronic logging device (ELD) final rule recently issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA); a rule that will require model year 2000 and newer trucks engaged in interstate commerce to shift over to ELDs within the next two years.
“This rule has the potential to have the single largest, most negative impact on the industry than anything else done by FMCSA,” noted Jim Johnston, OOIDA’s president and CEO, in a statement. “We intend to fight it with everything we have available.”
The group noted that its “Petition for Review” does not at this time outline the “arguments” that OOIDA will uses to challenge the ELD final rule, with said “arguments” to be provided in subsequent filings and during oral arguments in front of the court.
In August 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit vacated a proposed electronic logbook rule based on OOIDA’s argument that the rule did not address the harassment of drivers. The new ELD rule strictly prohibits driver harassment by providing both procedural and technical provisions to prevent harassment resulting from ELD-generated information.
A separate FMCSA rulemaking further safeguards drivers from being coerced to violate HOS regulations, providing the agency with the authority to take enforcement actions not only against motor carriers, but also against shippers, receivers, and transportation intermediaries.
“This regulation is absolutely the most outrageous intrusion into the rights of professional truckers imaginable and will do nothing at all to improve highway safety,” OOIDA’s Johnston added. “In fact, we firmly believe it will do exactly the opposite by placing even more pressure and stress on drivers than they already deal with.”
