Parties wishing to comment on the proposed rule on electronic logging devices and supporting documents for hours-of-service compliance have another 30 days to do so. In a notice to be published in the May 16 Federal Register, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration agreed with the request of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance to extend the comment period.
In requesting the extension, CVSA cited a number of complicated issues, especially the technology options for data transmission at the roadside.
On May 12, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Assn. filed comments supporting CVSA’s request, but it asked for a minimum of 60 more days to comment. In a letter to FMCSA, OOIDA President James Johnston noted that FMCSA had just posted in the docket a report evaluating the safety benefits of electronic hours-of-service recorders and that interested parties needed time to review and comment.
“From OOIDA’s observations at CVSA’s April 2014 meeting, there is a great deal of confusion and concern within the enforcement community about the potential technology standards to be mandated, who will have responsibility to provide each component of the equipment needed for the data transfer process, how such technology requirements will be funded for law enforcement, and how much enforcement training will be required to be able to use this technology proficiently,” Johnston told FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro. “Today, there are broad differences in preparedness among enforcement jurisdictions to use e-logging devices for hours-of-service enforcement.”
OOIDA said that members have told the group for several years that carriers who are known to have adopted automatic onboard recording devices (AOBRDs) often are allowed to pass through inspection locations uninspected because the local authorities are not prepared to deal with them.
“OOIDA does not believe this is FMCSA’s intended enforcement practice, and yet it will only get worse if the rule goes into effect before all state enforcement personnel are prepared to read them and make enforcement determinations,” Johnston said.
With 12 days left before the original comment deadline more than 900 comments have been filed on the notice of proposed rulemaking. To see the proposal and supporting documents, review comments or make your own comment go to www.regulations.gov and search FMCSA-2010-0167.
