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UPDATE: Lautenberg withdraws EOBR proposal

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-NJ, has withdrawn a proposal to require electronic on-board recorders on all commercial vehicles. OOIDA leadership says truckers who lit up the phones deserve credit for shaping the outcome.

Lautenberg, a member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, had hoped to attach his proposal to Senate bill S554, the Motor Coach Enhanced Safety Act. He officially withdrew the amendment during a markup of the legislation on Thursday, Dec. 17.

“Senator Lautenberg had filed the amendment earlier in the week and referenced it during the markup, but he withdrew it saying he wanted to focus on comprehensive safety measures down the road,” Rod Nofziger, OOIDA director of government affairs, told Land Line.

“He did make a statement saying that he wants to continue on with his efforts to extend EOBRs to trucks as well as buses. He did also reference that the National Transportation Safety Board has an EOBR mandate on its most-wanted list as well.”

OOIDA was quick to react after learning about Lautenberg’s intentions and it paid off, Nofziger said.

“We had heard from the folks that we deal with on the committee that they were getting quite a few calls from truckers,” Nofziger said. “Truckers’ efforts certainly caught the attention of members of the committee and made a difference.”

In addition to opposing the legislation, OOIDA has fought a proposed EOBR mandate on the regulatory side.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has made several attempts in recent years to bring to fruition a rulemaking on EOBRs. The latest version in the works proposes to mandate EOBRs for motor carriers that fail two safety compliance reviews during a two-year period. This is known as the so-called “bad actor” rule.

The proposed rule also included incentives for motor carriers that voluntarily installed the devices – giving them relief from other regs such as the supporting documents portion of the hours-of-service regulations.

OOIDA expressed the Association position in official comments filed in 2007.

“EOBRs are no more reliable or accurate a record of a driver’s compliance with the hours-of-service rules than paper logs,” Association leadership stated.

“There remains no rational basis for the economic burden and the unreasonable imposition on personal privacy proposed by this rule.”

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