Owner-operators and other trucking industry stakeholders have commented in droves on the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association’s request for an exemption from the electronic logging device mandate for small trucking businesses.
The exemption, if granted, would apply to small businesses (those with up to $27.5 million a year in revenue) who have no at-fault crashes on their record and who have a “Satisfactory” or “Conditional” safety rating.
The comment period closes Thursday, Feb. 1, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time. Those who wish to comment before then can do so here. As of Monday afternoon, nearly 1,500 comments had been made on the exemption request – most of which were in favor of the exemption.
Following are some comments filed to the Federal Register:
Jake Schwarzentruber echoed frustrations that have been legion in the aftermath of the ELD transition. “This ELD mandate is hurting small businesses out here,” he wrote. “We are trying to run under ELDs and having problems on a daily basis.” He cited difficulties keeping his system connected in the cab, faulty location readings within the device often “40 to 50 miles from where we’re at. We are spending countless hours trying to correct issues.” Meanwhile, “trucks are shut down because of the ELD not working right. The law must be changed. This is a burdensome regulation costing the industry a lot of downtime.”
Patrick Stone cited a contention that federally mandated ELDs were 4th and 5th amendment violations, representing an illegal search as well as contravention of the protection against self-incrimination. Further, he spoke to a perceived safety negative effect. “I’ve seen and have been passed by ELD drivers at times of terrible road conditions, and I have asked, ‘why don’t you slow down?’ The answer is always ‘no time, I must be at a certain place at a certain time.’ The last couple of snowstorms it seemed to be even worse than before. … There are many drivers who have control of their truck and do an excellent job and do not need an ELD to spy on them. If exemptions are not granted, lots of drivers will find other work. For everyone who stops driving you now have another replacing this driver with no experience, making more accidents possible.” Stone also noted he’s been active communicating his concerns to his Congressional representative, outside the federal exemption process.
Loren Starkey, an owner-operator with his own authority, said he shut his company down in the wake of the mandate because “me and every other driver with good records should not be punished because the mega carriers want to just throw bodies in a truck and call them drivers. … ELDs and emissions and all the other regulations are putting the little companies out of business and putting more Americans out of work.”
