OOIDA Takes EOBR Rule to Court

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has challenged the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's electronic onboard recorder rule with a petition filed in the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Earlier this month, the group submitted the petition, contesting the agency's new rule requiring carriers that violate hours of service 10 percent of the time to use EOBRs to track driver hours, according to published reports.

The rule, which will go into effect June 1, 2012, will impact close to 5,700 interstate carriers after its first year of implementation.

The FMCSA says it will consider a broader EOBR mandate in the future, and the agency is already working on this.

Under the current rule, carriers that violate the standard will have to install recorders on all of their trucks, regardless of when the truck was built, and use the recorders to track driver hours for at least two years. There will be an exception for carriers that install automatic onboard recorders before the compliance review finds them in violation.

The OOIDA is questioning whether the costs of installing EOBRs outweigh the benefits, according to published reports.

Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the OOIDA, said owner-operators don't think the rule is necessary. "We will point out that we've never seen a correlation between onboard recorders and improved highway safety," Spencer said. "I don't think that's going to change."