Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/846064
LEADING NEWS, TRUCKING MARKET CONDITIONS AND INDUSTRY ANALYSIS FMCSA study to assess split sleeper berth options F ollowing incremental steps in recent years, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration last month announced a pilot program intended to gauge the feasibility of adding more split sleeper berth options to hours-of-service regulations. FMCSA was soliciting carriers and drivers for the study and was seeking at least 200 drivers to participate. According to FMCSA's June 6 Federal Register notice, drivers will be studied for up to 90 days. Those interested in participating should visit SleeperBerthStudy.com to complete an application, take a questionnaire and provide written consent to be studied. Current regulations allow driv - ers, as an alternative to a straight 10-hour off-duty period, to take an eight-hour sleeper berth period to break up their 14-hour on-duty limit and their 11-hour drive-time limit. Drivers using this provision then must take a two-hour off-duty or sleeper period after exhausting their current day's limits. The agency's split sleeper berth pilot program seeks to determine the effects other split sleeper Supreme Court rejects OOIDA's ELD appeal I n a victory for the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Supreme Court last month said it would not hear a lawsuit challenging a DOT rule requiring truck operators to use electronic logging devices to track hours of service. The Supreme Court's June 12 decision leaves in place a lower court ruling upholding the mandate and its Dec. 18 compliance deadline. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association spearheaded the lawsuit, with its outside legal counsel representing the association and owner-operators Richard Pingel and Mark Elrod. OOIDA said it was "extremely disappointed that the Supreme Court does not see the merit in reviewing our case with so many questions about its constitution- ality." The group said it would continue to press the issue in Congress and is encouraging members to call their rep- resentatives and voice their concerns. The American Trucking Associations, meanwhile, said it concurred with the Supreme Court's decision. "We are pleased to see that the Supreme Court will not interfere with the implementation of this important, and congressionally mandated, safety rule," ATA said. "We will continue to sup- port FMCSA as they work toward the December deadline for electronic logging devices and urge them to provide certainty to the industry about when and how to comply with this rule by continuing to move toward implementing this regulation on schedule." OOIDA, seeking to have the mandate struck down in court, argued it violated drivers' constitutional protections against warrantless searches and seizures and that the rule did not meet congressional stipulations set for an ELD mandate. In its appeal to the Supreme Court, OOIDA and the trucker plaintiffs argued the mandate has implications outside of trucking, as it pertains to "millions of ordinary citizens going about their normal workdays under constant electronic surveillance without warrants," said Todd Spencer, OOIDA executive vice president. OOIDA brought the lawsuit in March 2016 against DOT and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. A three-judge panel for the Chicago-based 7th Circuit Court of Appeals heard the case last September. The next month, it ruled against OOIDA and in favor of DOT, dismissing all of OOIDA's arguments against the mandate. Scan the QR code with your smartphone or visit ccjdigital.com/ news/subscribe-to- newsletters to sign up for the CCJ Daily Report, a daily e-mail newslet- ter filled with news, analysis, blogs and market condition articles. Continued on page 10 The U.S. Supreme Court left in place a lower court ruling upholding the ELD mandate. commercial carrier journal | july 2017 9 Continued on page 10