Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) officials recently participated in a congressional hearing focused on the trucking industry, offering a series of recommendations to enhance the vocation.
OOIDA Executive Vice President Lewie Pugh voiced trucker concerns during the Keep on Truckin’: Stakeholder Perspectives on Trucking in America session before the Senate Subcommittee on Transportation and Safety.
Pugh, a trucker and small-business operator for nearly 23 years with roughly 2.5 million miles of safe driving, joined the
OOIDA staff in 2017.
The OOIDA, via Pugh, recommended several ways the Committee could make a positive difference within the trucking industry, such as repealing the electronic logging devices (ELD) mandate, implementing the overtime exemption for drivers in the Fair Labor Standards Act, providing dedicated funding for new truck parking capacity and fixing the nation’s infrastructure.
The Association also urged the Committee to abandon plans requiring speed limiters, mandating front and side underride guards and allowing under-21 drivers to engage in interstate commerce.
“If you ask most drivers what Congress has done recently to improve the profession, the answer is nothing,” Pugh said. “Washington has allowed trucking policy to be overly influenced by executives looking to maximize profits, activists who’d like to regulate truckers to oblivion, state and local governments who view truckers as rolling piggy banks and self-proclaimed experts who don’t even know what the inside of a truck looks like.”
Subcommittee Chair Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) said the trucking industry is a key component of the nation’s transportation and essential to the economy.
“However, I have repeatedly heard concerns from truckers and livestock haulers that many of the regulations they face are inflexible and fail to reflect real-world situations,” she said. “I was pleased to hear feedback from stakeholders regarding how federal policy can aid in truck safety, efficiency and productivity.”