A rulemaking ordered under the Obama administration will consider whether all trucks should be outfitted with a unique ID, overhauling the way trucks are inspected.
The advanced notice of proposed rulemaking is to be published in the Federal Register on Friday. It is in response to a request in February 2015 by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance to reconsider a similar request by CVSA that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration denied in 2013.
In November 2015 under FMCSA Administrator Scott Darling, the agency granted CVSA’s reconsideration petition and ordered a rulemaking after CVSA provided additional cost/benefit information, but the rule was never issued.
The current proposal, on which the public will have 60 days to comment, will consider requiring every commercial motor vehicle (CMV) to be equipped with electronic ID technology “capable of wirelessly communicating a unique ID number when queried by a Federal or State motor carrier safety enforcement personnel,” according to FMCSA.
“FMCSA is therefore soliciting further information regarding various aspects of electronic identification including the best possible technical and operational concepts along with associated costs, benefits, security, vulnerability, privacy and other relevant deployment and operational implications.”
Technology to ‘revolutionize’ roadside inspection?
FMCSA acknowledges in its petition that, for the purpose of roadside inspections, U.S. Department of Transportation number readers are capable of reading those numbers in real time at highway speeds, and license plate reader systems can identify and match plates with existing registration data.
Those devices, however, are not always accurate, which “may result in compliant carriers being stopped for roadside inspections and, conversely, non-compliant or high-risk carriers being excluded from roadside inspections,” according to the agency.
“Unnecessary inspections on otherwise compliant carriers leave less time for enforcement personnel to identify and conduct inspections of higher-risk carriers, and they also diminish the value of the advance e-screening for compliant carriers. Lack of inspections on non-compliant higher risk carriers may result in adverse safety events.”
CVSA states in its petition that requiring a unique electronic ID fitted to every truck “would revolutionize the way commercial motor vehicle roadside monitoring, inspection and enforcement are conducted. It would improve the effectiveness of enforcement programs while reducing costs, for both enforcement and industry, all while improving safety.” The technology also would have the potential to expand remote vehicle inspections (see CVSA video, below).
FMCSA’s petition includes a list of questions for public response, including whether trailers should also be required to have an electronic ID, if a driver’s ELD could be used to collect and transmit the electronic ID data, and if there are privacy, health or coercion concerns the agency should consider.
CVSA contends there would be no “credible” privacy concerns for carriers and drivers.
In a similar petition submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2018 asking NHTSA to require all trucks be manufactured at the outset with universal electronic ID, CVSA said a unique ID “would transmit only information that is already required to be displayed or made available by regulation. All this requirement would do is change how that information is presented to the enforcement community.”
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Mars
If they do that they need to start with cars cause car are the worst in the road cars need to have that system where you have up to daten not driving illegal drunk or high. So that need to ve done before truckers
Daniel Knisley
why don’t you people just leave us alone,your scams have just about played out with truckers,when you pay my fuel my maintenance my insurance my payments fine until then you can take your ignorance of what you think trucking is elsewhere
Pedro santiago
Hi sr when the government monitoring the brokers and shipping the all brokers take more 30 to 50 % with all loads and my opinion the trailers factoring legal 80,000 pounds and the shipping hauling the loads 45,500 to 46,000 to much loads with more wheight more opportunity the accident my personal opinion in my 20 years experience. I will said what should be regulated and check the shipping the amount of hours we being there, the correct weight they loading up on my opinion not more than 35,000 pounds and when finish time in the date no parking no shower and no area for safety drivers and equipment and the brokers regulation no more 10% yo 15% with all loads for all company have more capacity / money/ for maintenance all equipment satisfactory and great condition we have all responsibility and all expenses cost brokers pay under 2.00 miles and full up the 4.60 glns , Insuranse, maintenance and to much
ThunderWookie
I grew up around the trucking industry for a majority of my life as my father was a driver for 40 years. I did IT (Information Technology/Computers) for 15 years prior to driving truck and I can honestly tell you all this technology in all vehicles today is not a good thing. Just remember technology is extremely flawed as all these safety features are programmed computers that have software that was written by a human.
All the regulations on this industry is not safe. How is racing a clock ever been considered safe? How many more drivers need to be killed because of these regulations and mandates?
Think of the ELD’s and clock as a marathon race, everyone racing to the finish line at the same time to have the best time possible. That is exactly what all this has done.
All the collision litigation garbage on vehicles has caused more accidents than anything. When the radar suspects a collision is imminent, the computer slams on the brakes (this has happened to me in my personal vehicle, no cruise on, no one around me and on wet roads while taking my infant son to the hospital).
Instead of creating more non sense laws/regulations/mandates, enforce the rules already on the books. I can’t tell you how many drivers I see with their feet on their dash, curtains drawn blocking their mirrors, watching movies on their tablets or phones, etc. How is that safe?
How many 4-wheelers do we encounter on a daily basis cutting big trucks off, slamming on their brakes after cutting us off, crossing 5 lanes of traffic at the last second to exit the roadway, zipping up the shoulder; when will these buffoons be regulated?
If truckers need all these federal regulations, than so should your non professional drivers (speed limiters, GPS tracking, log books, check stations every so often and all cars must enter, highway use taxes, ifta taxes, insane insurance premiums, insane safety regulations, be subjected to nuclear verdicts for causing deadly accidents because of stupid driving habits, etc).
We truckers need to ban together and just park our rigs until all this over regulation is done (wishful thinking, I know).
The government has bigger things to worry about, than worrying about more regulations for trucks.
David gore
Totally agree, maybe it is time for every vehicle that weighs more than 4,000 Lbs to be checked & inspected just because they are passing thru a certain area at the wrong time
Oniel right
Safety is never the goal of adding electronics to a truck drivers unit but to benefit one self. harassment of drivers in every which way you tried to turn it! a good example is in times of crisis, lay aside the rules and run free, again to benefit you! why not allow us to do what we do and that is trucking. If we wanted to be harassed while we leave our family we would be working 9-5 not trucking!!!
Scott waterman
this industry is so heavily regulated as it is now more government harassment to help push more drivers away from the industry by people who never hauled a load or will they ever haul a load but yet there’s hardly any parking crooks for broker and every weight station in America looking for a quick buck and none of these rule and regulations are really about safety it’s all about the bottom line
A
Bull$h!t, all this started when the good Ole boys couldn’t have this industry to themselves! Now we have every nationality living of this; all of a sudden they are trying to turn trucking into a warehouse, clock in clock out! Log books just cans around in late 1999, that is when other minority but now they are majority started trucking.. The government is turning to modern day communism.. Trump said it
Bob
here we go with racial.. grow up Dude you trash and mad
Thomas F Theisen
This is just more government harassment that has been going on since 2010. You think you’re short of trucks now, wait till you implement this crock of bull! Why is it just us people that know how to manage our clock are always the ones to get singled out? The damn Somalis don’t have to adhere to any rules it appears!
Cal
ENOUGH with the government reg BS. it’s all about control and driving the small business owners out. government talks about safety, then lets carriers train a driver for 2 or 3 weeks and they’re good to go.
our every move is already tracked with the ELD BS. which needs to go.
it’s no wonder, why carriers can’t attract drivers. many of us got into driving for the freedom of not having a “boss” looking over your shoulder at work.