A federal appeals court on Friday, Aug. 26, vacated the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s electronic onboard recorder regulation for not addressing how the rule could prevent the devices from being used to harass drivers.
A three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit concluded that “the rule cannot stand because the agency failed to consider an issue that it was statutorily required to address.” The Truck and Bus Safety and Regulatory Reform Act of 1988 “requires the agency to ensure that any such device is not used to ‘harass vehicle operators.’ ”
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association appealed FMCSA’s April 5, 2010 rule last year. That regulation required EOBRs for all the trucks used by a carrier that has a greater than 10 percent rate of noncompliance with hours-of-service rules in any single compliance review.
However, existing regulations require EOBRs be used “to monitor safety, not workplace productivity.” Any future EOBR rule should contain “an adequate explanation that addresses the distinction between productivity and harassment (that) must also describe what precisely it is that will prevent harassment from occurring,” the court wrote.
The court disposed of the rule on “a narrow basis,” referring to the absence of a guard against harassment. It stated OOIDA had presented several arguments against the rule in February and noted “the briefing raises a litany of issues that would make for a difficult and exhaustive administrative law final exam.”
An agency official said she is reviewing the court’s decision and that FMCSA “is committed to raising the bar for commercial truck and bus safety.”
The American Trucking Associations said it supports FMCSA’s efforts to mandate the adoption and use of EOBRs for hours-of-service compliance. “FMCSA’s research shows that compliance with the current hours-of-service rules is strongly associated with reduced crash risk,” said Bill Graves, ATA president and chief executive officer. “Of course, electronic logging devices are an important tool for improving hours of service compliance.
“We hope FMCSA will work quickly to address the court’s decision and the important device design and performance specifications being evaluated by the administrator’s Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee,” Graves said. “As demonstrated by the record improvement in the industry’s safety record since the framework for the current hours-of-service rules went into effect and the agency’s own compliance and crash data, increasing compliance with the rules is vital. Of course, electronic logging devices are an important and effective means to this end.”
Also of Interest »
I agree, Gordon. I don't see how EOBR will improve safety, either. I see it as nothing more than excessive oversight by an increasingly intrusive government.
Thank you OOIDA for getting this done.
I still don't know how EOBR will improve nhighway safety.
It will cause professional drivers to leave the industry as we are not liars nor unsafe drivers. It is the less than qualified drivers that need to be monitored.
OOIDA is the only organization that supports and endorses the O/O and driver.
THIS is WHY I left driving. TOOO Much Government interference, where as I, could never compete. Government's silly rules, bloated Political system of greasing palms, have destroyed American trucking making it a job only for Indians (india) and mexicans, (that have their whole families in the truck) that are willing to drive for .02 cents a mile. We can't feed our families, pay the fuel, make ANY profit, buy new equipment, pay the Expensive Taxes.
I left the business that I loved to sit on my ass and collect Obama Bucks, YOU deliver your own products. I quit.
Interesting! The FMCSA is always trying to raise the bar. Problem is that none of them have ever operated the commercial vehicles they want to regulate.
The American Trucking Association is nothing more than a representative for the big corporations so naturally it supports any effort to in some way eliminate or hinder owner operaters and small trucking companies.
good deal it seems to me this would be a violation of commerce laws as well the federal government is prohibited from forcing an American citizen to purchase something against there will. Just like obama health care it will win at the supreme court level.
No comprehensive, unbiased, blind, scientific study has been done by any completely neutral group to determine the advantages and disadvantages in the use of this technology. Only when that has been determined can we say if it is useful or just intrusive. I fear the latter as most drivers I know are professionals. They do this to care for their families. Those that drive for my company no more want to lose the opportunities presented to us by our clients than I do. To that end all are always concerned that they are compliant. We help them, advise them, we do not abuse them or ask them to do anything that they feel would not be in keeping with the letter as well as the spirit of the regulations. The most common complaint I hear is that they feel the regulations as they stand are already highly intrusive and any more would be just more big government collecting data from which to somehow tax. As the owner of the company, especially since the advent of the FMCSA and their CSA program, which to me looks like a DOT wanna-be, I must wholeheartedly agree.
David P. Wisla
President/CEO
Slipstream Expedited Services, Inc.
P.O. Box 836
Mt. Prospect, IL. 60056
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
Like