Dive Brief:
- A 72-hour Roadcheck event in early June netted more than 12,000, or 19.4%, of vehicles out-of-service while almost 3,000 drivers, or 4.7%, were similarly cited, Overdrive reported Tuesday.
- Vehicle violations in order of occurrence include brake systems at 26.9%; cargo securement at 15.7%, and tires and wheels under par at 15.1%. Driver violations in order were hours of service (HOS) at 32.3%; wrong license class at 14.9% and falsified log book at 11.3%.
- The results of the 2016 Roadcheck resulted in fewer violations for both trucks and drivers despite more inspections.
Dive Insight:
Hours of service violations dominate driver infractions, despite ongoing resistance to ELD mandate.
There's a big contradiction between the percentage of truck drivers cited for HOS and the number of those still fighting the pending ELD mandate. Arguments against the ELD mandate include concerns about privacy violations, improper cost analyses and harassment. A further argument involves the cost of the technology, which varies between $165 to $832, annually, with the majority of drivers likely to pay approximately $495 per year per truck.
In fact, members of the Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) are so set against the rule that despite a refusal by the Supreme Court to reconsider the case, they managed to present their case to Congress, where enough inroads were made to kindle hope the mandate might at least be delayed. To gain this valuable political support, they made subtle changes to their arguments in order to appeal to their fresh audience, such as sudden concerns over connectivity, data transfers, and cybersecurity vulnerabilities, as given by Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the association.
Going forward, it will be interesting to consider what effect, if any, the Roadcheck HOS results will have on Congressional sponsorship.
