In a response brief filed last month, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) dismissed legal challenges filed against the new electronic logging device (ELD) requirements as being meritless.
The lawsuit, filed by the Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), alleges that the rule fails to adequately address driver harassment issues. The lawsuit also alleges that the specific device requirements under the new rule don’t require fully automatic ELDs, as Congress had called for, and that the rule doesn’t offer sufficient security for personal data. Finally, the OOIDA argues that ELDs violate drivers’ Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures.
The FMCSA denies all of these charges, pointing to broad harassment protections. Additionally, they say that the ELDs do automatically record while the driver is on duty, thus being in line with Congress’s instructions. The FMCSA also maintains that they took into account the safety of personal data when they drafted the legislation, and that there is no Fourth Amendment violation, since the ELDs don’t actually constitute a “search” or a “seizure.”
At present, the final rule is set to go into effect in December 2017.
