The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) is continuing its fight to dispose of the electronic logging device (ELD) mandate set to take place Dec. 10th of this year, this time filing a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court.
For those unfamiliar, ELDs would replace paper logs, recording individual driver information such as duty status, location of their vehicle when their duty status changes, how far they traveled, motor carrier and vehicle information, hours-of-service data, and shipper and commodity information.1Drivers will also be alerted at least 30 minutes ahead of time of when they are closing in on “their driving limit, approaching their on-duty time limit for a 24-hour period, or are nearing their weekly on-duty or driving time limitations.”1
OOIDA had filed a suit against the ruling back in March of last year but lost. Now, going above the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit to the Supreme Court, OOIDA held its stance in a petition stating that ELDs violate the Fourth Amendment, which protects individuals from illegal search and seizure.2
According OOIDA’s president, Jim Johnston, the organization “believes that the Seventh Circuit erred in allowing warrantless searches of 3.5 million drivers, designed specifically to uncover evidence of criminal activity.”2
The group goes on to state that “The ELD rule does far more than authorize administrative inspections of business premises. HOS regulations are directed toward the personal conduct of drivers” and invade a driver’s privacy far more than paper logbooks do.2
Besides driver harassment, other concerns for the mandate include cost of implementation, tightened trucking capacity and increasing driver shortage, as well as there being no direct correlation between ELDs and safety improvements.
On the other hand, there are those who feel that ELDs will serve beneficial in preventing fatigue, saving over $1 million in revenue, and increasing efficiency during inspections.
Read OOIDA’s press release here.
1http://eobr.com/what-is-an-eobr/
2http://fleetowner.com/regulations/ooida-supreme-court-eld-mandate-violates-4th-amendment