Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator Spokesman Duane DeBruyne has acknowledged that the agency has received a petition filed by the Owner Operator Independent Driver Association that seeks to delay implementation of the electronic logging device ELD mandate, which goes into effect Dec. 18.

OOIDA has said that its Aug. 29 petition points out that “26 states have not yet incorporated an electronic logging regulation into state law and are not authorized to enforce the rule until they do so.”  

Queried by HDT as to whether or not FMCSA holds that states cannot enforce the new ELD rule until they too have passed into law specific ELD rules, DeBruyne replied that the agency is “presently preparing a fact-based response.” He also emphasized that “the congressionally mandated ELD rule did not change federal hours-of-service regulations.”

DeBruyne added that the ELD mandate is “estimated to save more than 25 lives and prevent more than 500 injuries resulting from crashes involving large commercial motor vehicles each year.”

The OOIDA petition states that “serious legal problems arise because states are attempting to enforce federal safety standards that have not been made part of state law.” Todd Spencer, OOIDA executive vice president, stated the association is “concerned about numerous states issuing citations for the violation of non-existent state laws.”

In its news release, OOIDA also referenced the action taken earlier this week by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance. As reported by HDT on Aug. 28, CVSA sees no reason to delay the December start date for the electronic logging device mandate, but its members will delay implementing out-of-service criteria related to ELDs until April 1, 2018. In addition, CVSA said each jurisdiction will have discretion as to whether they actually issue citations in the beginning.

On Sept. 1, CVSA Deputy Executive Director Adrienne Gildea told HDT, “We are still gathering responses from our members and assessing the petition's arguments.” On Aug 29, she had advised HDT that the alliance had “only just received it [the petition] ourselves and are currently in the process of gathering the necessary information in order to effectively respond to OOIDA’s assessment.”

Related... OOIDA: States Must Pass Rules Before Federal ELD Mandate Is Enforced