The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in late September put out an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) requesting public comments on whether it should require every truck to be equipped with an electronic device "capable of wirelessly communicating a unique ID number when queried by a Federal or State motor carrier safety enforcement personnel."
Just a couple weeks after asking, FMCSA has seen a deluge of more than 700 comments come in, many from operators soundly rejecting the idea. Driver concerns over a potential electronic ID requirement vary wildly, with some saying it's simply more needless red tape in an already over-regulated industry, to others worried about their privacy and even some worried about enforcement agents using electronic devices while driving at highway speeds.
Mike "Mustang" Crawford, an owner-operator who boasts 4 million safe miles in a 1994 Freightliner FLD, expressed concern as to the capabilities of the electronic devices, worrying that they would allow enforcement to track trucks in motion wherever they go, not to mention their likely incompatibility with his older equipment. Dozens of other operators objected to the seemingly redundant nature of electronic ID, given ample identifiers already plainly visible on a truck.
"This would do nothing more than increase costs for carriers. Trucks are already required to have all kinds of identifying information on the side. Officers have eyes that can read those markings," commenter Benjamin Lee wrote, objecting to any new electronic device being required. Furthermore, many truck-enforcement jurisdictions also have currently in-use technology -- electronic license plate and DOT number readers -- that do at least some of the things the ANPRM envisions such technology (often referred to with the UID acronym) would enable.
FMCSA's published ANPRM discusses how law enforcement currently uses such tech, often funded by federal grant dollars, to "electronically identify a CMV, verify its size, weight, and credentials information, and review its carrier's past safety performance while the vehicle is in motion and then communicate safely to the driver to either pull in or bypass the roadside inspection station."
The agency admits governments don't have the time or manpower to inspect every truck and bus, and that it wants to use technology to flag carriers deemed high-risk or who have zero history of inspections. Recently-inspected carriers with everything in order, carriers with excellent safety histories -- they can keep on trucking, so as not to waste fuel and time.
UID, if implemented nationwide for every truck in the way suggested by FMCSA's recent notice, would essentially be the first step on a path to beefing up this targeted-enforcement strategy.
