The FMCSA has named 25 drivers from all sectors of the industry to serve on a new panel of the Agency’s Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee.
Todd Spencer, president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, will lead the panel. This newly created panel will be comprised of truck drivers that will provide input and feedback.
The official announcement from FMCSA can be found here.
“We applaud the creation of the panel. It’s long overdue,” said Spencer. “Input from the people on the frontlines is crucial to highway safety and efficiency in moving goods and people. Hearing directly from those most impacted by the traffic environment and rules and regulations can certainly be a tremendous benefit to the agency and also to lawmakers.”
Jan 13, 2021
This two-part series takes a look at what might be in store for trucking and motor carriers in 2021. This first installment details what regulations fleets can expect to see action on in the coming year. The second installment will cover expectations for freight demand, rates and the economy in 2021. Read it next week.
A proposal from the U.S. DOT to require speed limiters on heavy-duty trucks was tabled in 2017, less than a year after it was proposed by FMCSA. Regs around speed limiters could see new life under the Biden Administration. What could be on tap for trucking regulations in 2021? With a new administration in the White House, new leadership at the U.S. DOT, and Democratic control of both chambers of Congress, the environment in Washington will likely be decidedly more regulation-friendly than in the Trump era. Here’s a look at regulations that could be up for consideration in 2021 under that altered landscape:
One of the issues the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association will try to address in the 117th Congress is the repeal of the truck driver overtime exemption in the Fair Labor Standards Act. The organization said it wants drivers to be paid for all of the time they spend on duty.
OOIDA Executive Vice President Lewie Pugh said repealing the exemption would benefit owner-operators as well as employee drivers.
“For far too long, drivers have had to give their time away for nothing,” Pugh said. “That’s one of the biggest problems in the industry … but that’s become the norm. You only get paid when you’re driving. You don’t get paid when you’re fueling. You don’t get paid for waiting to load or waiting to unload. As a company driver, trucking is the only profession I know where you work 70 hours but you only get paid for maybe 40 of them when you’re driving the truck.
Trucking groups condemn Capitol violence
Message to truckers: Focus on policy, not politics Trucking groups condemn protestors violent attack on the U.S. Capitol. Photo: Tyler Merbler/Flickr
Trucking groups condemned the Wednesday attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Trump, which left at least five people dead, including a Capitol Police officer, and many more injured.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, the Western States Trucking Association and the American Trucking Associations separately spoke out against the violence, casting it as an affront to U.S. democracy.
“Certainly most people would agree that Wednesday was a sad day for American democracy,” Todd Spencer, president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, told FreightWaves. “What happened in the nation’s Capitol is certainly unacceptable, inappropriate, totally uncalled for.”
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) historically has been less prone to large shifts in policy between presidential administrations. Although President Donald Trump and.