OOIDA pushes DOT to reduce regulations, improve safety

Although trucking is one of the most regulated industries in the United States, compliance with those regulations has not always led to improvements in highway safety.

That’s why the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association said it supports the U.S. Department of Transportation’s plan to remove costly and overly burdensome regulations.

In April, the DOT began its deregulatory process by asking the public to help identify regulations that could be modified, repealed or amended without hindering safety. The 30-day comment period closed on Monday, May 5.

The DOT received nearly 900 comments, including a large percentage from truck drivers who asked for more freedom to do their job safely and efficiently.

OOIDA, which represents small-business truckers, said the current regulatory approach is costly and has forced many of the nation’s safest truck drivers out of business.

“These ineffective rules have driven up costs for small-business truckers, pushing many safe and experienced operators out of the industry,” the Association wrote in comments signed by President Todd Spencer. “OOIDA is supportive of U.S. Department of Transportation priorities that will remove excessive burdens, modernize regulations, enhance safety and improve working conditions for professional truckers in a commonsense, cost-effective manner.”

OOIDA’s 17 pages of comments included dozens of recommendations on how regulations and proposals could be modified, repealed, amended or withdrawn. Some of the topics OOIDA focused on included speed limiters, hours of service, English proficiency and broker transparency.

Speed limiters

Technically, a speed-limiter mandate on commercial motor vehicles has not reached the regulation stage. However, OOIDA wants to make sure that the DOT doesn’t allow the resilient proposal to ever become a final rule.

Proposals to require heavy trucks to install speed limiters were issued in 2016 and again in 2022. As of press time, the 2022 proposal remained active. Although a top speed was never determined, safety groups have advocated for preventing heavy-duty trucks from going any faster than 60 mph. Truckers point to the drastic speed differentials that such a regulation would cause.

“Professional truck drivers strongly object to any speed limiter mandate for several other reasons based on their own experiences,” OOIDA wrote. “Speed limiters take control of the truck away from drivers, denying them the ability to use the truck’s capabilities to avoid accidents and unsafe road and traffic conditions. Speed limiters increase driver stress and make drivers more fatigued because in order to complete the schedule expected of them, they must operate additional hours under the hours-of-service rules.”

OOIDA added that speed limits should be left up to the states.

“There is already a mechanism in place to address vehicle speeds – speed limits set and enforced by the states,” OOIDA wrote. “In 1995, Congress repealed the national speed limit and gave states the power to establish speed limits for their roads. Since then, states have been able to design their roadways and set top speeds according to what they have determined to be safest for their specific needs and conditions. FMCSA’s ongoing rulemaking ignores this longstanding authority. Once again, we recommend DOT formally withdraw this proposed rulemaking.”

Hours of service

Prompted by a petition from OOIDA, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration modified its hours-of-service regulations in 2020 to provide truck drivers more flexibility within the rules.

Now, OOIDA would like the DOT to take more steps toward making the hours of service practical and safe for truckers.

“For years, our members have told lawmakers and FMCSA that existing HOS rules are not sensible for today’s trucking industry,” OOIDA wrote. “HOS regulations that dictate a truck driver’s work schedule are overly complex, provide little flexibility and in no way reflect the physical capabilities or limitations of individual drivers. They effectively force truckers to be on the road when they are tired, during busy travel times, during hazardous weather and road conditions or when they simply are not feeling well.”

OOIDA wants the regulation modified to allow truckers to “pause” their clock and to utilize expanded split sleeper-berth options, such as 6/4 and 5/5.

“This flexibility would improve drivers’ rest and alertness,” OOIDA wrote. “It makes far more sense to allow alert drivers to leave the sleeper berth and begin driving with the option to obtain additional rest later in the day, rather than forcing drivers to idly wait for their driving clock to restart. More restrictive sleeper berth splits can force a trucker to drive when tired and rest when alert. The truth is that not all drivers are able to sleep seven, eight or 10 hours at a time. Thus, allowing them to split their sleeper time more efficiently will help them to gain more adequate rest, resulting in increased alertness and better driver performance.”

English proficiency

OOIDA said the DOT should spend more time focusing on and enforcing regulations that have genuine safety ramifications. The Association noted one of those regulations includes requiring truck drivers to be able to read and speak English proficiently.

“The ability to understand and react to road signs, especially in emergency situations, is critical for public and operational safety,” OOIDA wrote. “Drivers must also be able to communicate with law enforcement and, in the case of an emergency, first responders.”

The Association petitioned the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance in March to enforce out-of-service orders on truck drivers who aren’t compliant with the English-proficiency regulations. On April 28, President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for enforcement of the regulation. Those actions led CVSA to vote last week to make a lack of English proficiency part of the out-of-service criteria.

“OOIDA strongly agrees with President Trump’s decision to resume enforcement of English proficiency requirements for commercial drivers,” the Association wrote. “We believe the executive order is a welcome step toward restoring a commonsense safety standard.”

Additionally, OOIDA said it urges “DOT to gather more information on the number of non-domiciled CDLs currently operating on our roads, how these drivers are being recruited, compensated, treated and the safety records of carriers utilizing these CDL holders.”

Broker transparency

For years, there have been regulations on the books that require brokers to keep transaction records that can be viewed by each party of the brokered transactions. However, these regulations are rarely followed.

OOIDA petitioned FMCSA in 2020 to enforce and strengthen broker transparency regulations. The previous administration started the rulemaking process, and OOIDA is asking the Trump administration to take the proposal across the finish line.

FMCSA received about 6,900 comments on the broker transparency proposal, which would affirm that brokers have a regulatory obligation to provide transaction records and require brokers to provide an electronic copy of records within 48 hours of a carrier’s request.

“If implemented properly, this rulemaking will contribute to a more ethical, fair and efficient freight brokerage marketplace,” OOIDA wrote.

Other highlights

OOIDA also used its comments to ask the agency to repeal the electronic logging device mandate and to end the Unified Carrier Registration system.

A regulation mandating ELDs to track a trucker’s hours of service took effect in December 2017. OOIDA, which challenged the mandate all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, has long contended that regulation would be costly while providing no proven safety benefits.

The mandate has an estimated annual cost of $1.8 billion.

“Given the lack of substantive highway safety improvements, DOT should repeal this costly mandate, OOIDA wrote.

The Association also called out UCR for doing “nothing more than generate slush fund revenue” for states.

“As DOT reviews wasteful spending programs, UCR is a prime candidate for repeal,” OOIDA wrote.

OOIDA said it is hopeful that the deregulatory comment period was just the beginning of the DOT’s effort to prioritize input from truck drivers on the best ways to improve highway safety.

“Moving forward, DOT can best identify regulations that might be modified, streamlined or repealed by meeting with truckers on the road, holding public listening sessions on important safety issues, attending industry events and valuing the irreplaceable input of America’s truckers,” OOIDA wrote.

Although the official comment period ended Monday, May 5, the DOT will accept emails on a continuing basis at Transportation.RegulatoryInfo@dot.gov about regulations that could be modified or repealed. Include “Regulatory Reform RFI” in the subject line of the email. LL