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FMCSA files its response to OOIDA's challenge to ELDs

TheTrucker.com - America's Trucking Newspaper

Complaints of too many exemptions for the ELD ( electronic logging device ) have hampered enforcement of a rule I feel will level the playing field in the industry.
The requirement was supposed to be effective December 2017 after a couple of years for carriers to conform to the law.
I wonder why and who has decided to provide these exemptions ?

CVSA Complains of Too Many FMCSA Regulatory Exemptions

Federal trucking regulators are exempting too many motor carriers from electronic logging device requirements and other regulations, creating “confusion and inconsistency in enforcement,” according to the organization representing roadside commercial vehicle inspectors.
“Since 2015, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has issued nearly 50 exemptions to motor carriers, waiving regulatory requirements for certain segments of the transportation industry,” said a letter written to FMCSA Administrator Ray Martinez last month. “This is in addition to the dozens of legislative and regulatory exemptions already in place.”
The letter, written by Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance Executive Director Collin Mooney, added that “over the last two years, the agency has issued a number of exemptions from the electronic logging device requirement, a critical safety requirement designed to help combat fatigue on our nation’s roadways and designed to level the playing field for motor carriers seeking to operate safely within the hours-of-service rules.”

The picture in the story is a local fuel tanker outfit out of south Jersey, so the picture is definitely our "truck cops" in New Jersey.
They are associated with the Motor Vehicle Commission and inspections and they set up in local parking lots and areas where they can pull in trucks for inspections. Always a NJ State cop is with them. I don't think they have any authority to hold or arrest anyone, which is why the NJSP are with them.


https://www.ttnews.com/articles/cvsa...ory-exemptions

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News concerning the above post about ELD's.

New York Hadn't Been Enforcing the ELD Mandate. Now It Is.

The New York State Department of Transportation announced that state inspectors will begin enforcing federal electronic logging device rules, ending a year-plus stretch during which a lawsuit kept the state law enforcement in limbo and left federal inspectors as the sole enforcers of the rule in the state.
“The purpose of this rulemaking is to comply with federal requirements,” NYSDOT said in a document posted to a public site on Jan. 16, more than two weeks after the New York Supreme Court on Dec. 31 rejected a lawsuit that sought to block the state’s ability to enforce the law.
That lawsuit, brought against the state by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, sought to restrain New York officials from enforcing the ELD mandate, which requires most motor carriers to equip trucks with the devices to track hours-of-service, and took effect in December 2017.

https://www.ttnews.com/articles/eld-...egins-new-york

[ABFwife]

Teamsters Challenges Federal Agency Decision on California Break Rules on Interstate Truck Drivers

Friday, February 1, 2019

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 2785 has filed a petition for review to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) determination that California’s meal and rest break rules are preempted as applied to drivers of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) subject to the FMCSA’s hours-of-service (HOS) regulations. This primarily involves interstate truck drivers and some intrastate drivers who meet certain criteria under the HOS regulations who drive CMVs. The Teamsters are seeking to reverse the Agency’s administrative determination.

On September 24, 2018, the American Trucking Associations (ATA) petitioned the FMCSA to preempt California law requiring employers to provide their drivers meal and rest breaks who operate CMVs subject to the FMCSA’s HOS regulations.

On December 21, 2018, the FMCSA reversed an FMCSA determination from December 2008 where it previously found California’s meal and rest periods were not preempted by federal law. The FMCSA then granted ATA’s petition and held the meal and rest break rules are preempted under 49 U.S.C. 31141 as applied to CMV drivers covered by the FMCSA’s HOS regulations. Docket No. FMCSA-2018-0304.

https://www.natlawreview.com/article...terstate-truck

[RedRollingRoadblock]

I just stumbled on this, rather humorous as I know of one Teamster company that will not hire someone with convictions of this sort no matter how long ago it was.

https://www.overdriveonline.com/trum...wo-prior-duis/

Martinez also filed written testimony with the Senate, revealing he was in his late 20s convicted twice for driving under the influence.

He was first arrested in September 1987 in Fairfax County, Virginia, for a DUI. His second DUI arrest was in August 1989 in Nassau County, New York. Both resulted in convictions, according to the testimony submitted to the Senate. Martinez turns 57 in December, meaning he was 26 and 28 at the time of the arrests.

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Diabetics take note !


FMCSA Formally Ends Its Driver Diabetes Exemption Program

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on Feb. 21 formally announced the immediate end of its exemption process for the medical certification of insulin-dependent truck and bus drivers.
In a Federal Register announcement, the agency said diabetic drivers who possess a medical card will need to renew, and those seeking a medical card in the future will be certified to drive only if they get a green light from an agency-certified medical examiner.
The exemption process will remain in effect for drivers with epilepsy and seizure disorders, as well as for hearing and vision disorders, the agency said.

The revised diabetes standard, published Sept. 19, grants certified medical examiners, in consultation with a driver’s treating clinician, ability to determine whether to approve an insulin-treated individual for a medical certificate to drive a commercial motor vehicle in interstate commerce for up to 12 months.
“FMCSA has determined, therefore, that an exemption program for [treated diabetics] is no longer necessary,” the agency said.
Despite dropping the exemption process, a diabetic driver still must convince his treating clinician and medical examiner that his or her diabetes is under control.

https://www.ttnews.com/articles/fmcs...mption-program