FMCSA Defends ELD Rule in Appeals Court Filing
In a brief filed with a federal appeals court, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration defended a legal challenge to the agency鈥檚 electronic logging device rule by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association.
The 60-page FMCSA brief was filed June 15 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. It was a response to an OOIDA claim filed with the appeals court on March 29 alleging that the ELDs mandate for commercial vehicles 鈥渄oes not advance safety, is arbitrary and capricious and violates Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures.鈥
FMCSA said it could refute every claim made by OOIDA.
鈥淎 driver who drives over hours currently can falsify any one of a number of entries on the Record of Duty Status to make it appear that the driver is in compliance,鈥 the FMCSA response said. 鈥淭he electronic logging device would provide certain pieces of driver unalterable data, which would complicate the process of falsifying driving hours.鈥
FMCSA called the agency鈥檚 adoption of the ELD rule a 鈥渃ommon sense鈥 reinforcement of a congressional ELD mandate.
鈥淎utomatic, tamper-proof recording of driving data, location, engine hours and other information decreases the likelihood that driving time can be concealed or status information changed after the fact,鈥 the agency said in its response brief.
The ELD rule, unveiled听Dec. 10, details new technical specifications for ELDs and supporting documents, and requires all interstate carriers to comply by Dec. 17, 2017.
However, OOIDA said the agency provided no proof of its claims that the mandate would improve highway safety.
鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 even attempt to compare the safety records of trucking companies that use ELDs and those that do not,鈥 OOIDA President Jim Johnson said in a recent statement. 鈥淭here is simply no proof that the costs, burdens and privacy infringements associated with this mandate are justified.鈥
But based on the agency鈥檚 calculations, FMCSA estimated that the greater hours-of-service compliance achieved through ELDs would result in 1844 fewer crashes, 26 lives saved, and 562 injuries avoided annually.
FMCSA also said it adopted several technical provisions to guard against driver harassment.
