The American Trucking Associations on Feb. 24 filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in support of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s defense of electronic logging devices.
“ATA supports the use of electronic logging devices, which have demonstrated the ability to improve carriers’ compliance with FMCSA’s hours-of-service regulations,” said Bill Graves, ATA president and chief executive officer. “With this filing, we urge the court to reject the calls to prevent fleets from using these powerful compliance tools.”
FMCSA’s rules governing the voluntary use of electronic logging devices to record hours-of-service data are being challenged by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which successfully overturned the agency’s proposal to mandate electronic logging for carriers with egregious hours-of-service violations on the grounds the rule didn’t address how the devices may be used to harass drivers.
“Thousands of responsible safety-minded truck fleets throughout this country voluntarily use this technology to ensure their drivers are complying with federal hours-of-service requirements,” Graves said. “The court should dismiss this challenge and reaffirm the longstanding authorization to voluntarily use electronic logging devices while FMCSA works toward addressing questions about a future, wider mandate for their use.”
