Indiana attorney general Curtis Hill, Jr. has made a formal request to delay the federal mandate for electronic logging devices (ELD) on commercial vehicles, a move applauded by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA).
The ELD mandate is scheduled to go into effect on Dec. 18. Implementation is estimated to cost the industry $2 billion annually.
In his letter to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), Hill said implementation would cause a burden to both drivers and operators.
Hill also listed eight issues he found with the mandate. They include steps in the Plan and Procedures manual that cannot be completed, motor carries only have eight days to update a device that is found to be noncompliant, and compliance with the ruling is determined by personal interpretation.
Hill urged the FMCSA to put the mandate on hold until it can develop clearer guidelines.
“Most small-business truckers can ill afford to make these purchases only to learn later that their ELD is non-compliant,” Todd Spencer, OOIDA executive vice president, said. “This request from a state agency is a prime example how states are beginning to understand the reality of this broadly written mandate and its negative consequences. Law enforcement is simply not ready for this.”