The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago to reconsider its ruling in favor of a proposed FMCSA rule to require the use of electronic logging devices on all commercial trucks.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago to rehear a case against proposed federal regulations mandating the use of electronic logging devices (ELDs) on all commercial trucks, according to a statement from the truck driver advocacy group.
OOIDA initially requested the judicial review back in March, but a three-judge panel of the appellate court in late October upheld an earlier ruling in favor of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) ELD rule.
The association, which continues to argue that the rule does not advance safety and violates professional truck drivers’ Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure, this week filed a petition asking the full court to hear the case en banc.
Under federal hours-of-service regulations, commercial truck drivers are limited in the number of hours they can work and drive daily, as well as on a weekly basis. The FMCSA rule, which was mandated by Congress in the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Enhancement Act of 2012 and finalized last December, requires that ELDs be installed on all interstate commercial motor vehicles model year 2000 and newer within two years.
ELDs automatically record driving time, engine hours, vehicle movement, miles driven and location information, giving companies the ability to track the driving and non-driving activities of truck drivers.
The ELD mandate is aimed at improving driver compliance with those regulations, decreasing paperwork, and reducing the number of fatigue‐related accidents involving large trucks. FMSCA estimates the ELD final rule will prevent an average of 26 fatalities and 562 injuries resulting from crashes involving large commercial motor vehicles on an annual basis.
OOIDA, however, said it has successfully challenged a similar ELD mandate in August 2011, when a court vacated a proposed electronic logbook rule based on the argument of harassment of drivers.
According to Todd Spencer, executive vice president of OOIDA, the group’s petition for review cites other prior court decisions that may be in conflict with the most recent ruling to uphold the ELD mandate as well.
“In our previous case on this issue, the court stated in its final opinion that our arguments regarding privacy would make for a thorough law exam,” Spencer said in a statement. “This time, we have again raised several issues that should be considered more broadly and we hope to have a full review by the court.”
Large motor carriers, many of which are represented by the American Trucking Associations, are generally supportive of the rule because they say it creates an even playing field. Motor carriers in the past were able to potentially record inaccurate times in paper logbooks in order to run longer hours and make more money.
The case is No. 15‐3756 OWNER‐OPERATOR INDEPENDENT DRIVERS ASSOCIATION, INC., MARK ELROD, and RICHARD PINGEL, Petitioners, v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, et al., Respondents., Sept. 13, 2016.
OOIDA asks court to rehear ELD mandate suit
