Will fewer regulations create a safer trucking industry?

Several rules focused on safety are left in limbo under Trump administration

Is the trucking industry over-regulated? Good luck finding anyone in the industry that would say no. But ask which regulations should be repealed and chances are each one will be mentioned at least once.

The fact that there is no industry consensus on what regulations are good and which ones are bad only complicates the matter. For nearly every regulation, there are three sides – those for, those against, and the government.

Take the electronic logging device (ELD) rule, for example. The ELD mandate, which goes into effect in December of this year, seeks to eliminate paper logs, automating the process with a tamper-proof technology. But even this rule has been met with opposition.

Since President Donald Trump signed his executive order requiring the elimination of two rules for every new one, several proposed industry regulations have been slowed and a few even pulled from the regulatory docket. Without consensus among the industry, let alone regulators, on which rules should stay and which should go, the era of more industry regulation may be quickly coming to an end.

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